[4] Moore grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, where her interest in mathematics came from her grandfather, an architect.
[1][3] Next, she attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, initially studying physics but shifting to mathematics,[1] and starting an ongoing mathematics competition club at the university.
[2] She was frequently the only woman in her undergraduate classes, and the only woman of ten in her graduate program when she entered to leave with a Ph.D.[5] After completing her doctorate, Moore taught at Bowdoin College and, on a sabbatical from Bowdoin, at Stanford University.
[4] Moore was elected to the council of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2016.
[7] Furthermore, as of 2023 Moore serves as the Vice-Chair for the SIAM's Activity Group on Life Sciences.