After working as a secondary-school science teacher at Saint Mary's School (Raleigh, North Carolina) and as a mathematics lecturer at Durham Technical Community College, she became an assistant professor of physics in 2001 at the University of Maine at Farmington. She moved to Miami University in 2002 as a visiting assistant professor, and obtained a regular-rank assistant professorship there in 2005. She was promoted to associate professor in 2011 and full professor in 2019. She has been associate dean of the College of Arts and Science since 2021.