[3] She attended Pomona Catholic High School and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where she earned her bachelor's degree in political science.

[1][4] She went to Boston University for a joint master's degree in international relations, and resource and environmental management, followed by a doctorate in geography, where she worked with Robert C. Kaufmann and Curtis E.

[1] Her dissertation research studied urban land expansion and impacts on farmland in the Pearl River Delta of China.

[5][6] She was a pioneer in combining socioeconomic data and satellite imagery to study urban growth using time series analysis.

[10] Seto conducts research on the human transformation of land, understanding the processes of urbanisation and exploring the environmental impact of changes in land-use.

[13] After an earthquake devastated areas in Nepal in 2015, Seto was inspired to investigate how the evolving urban developments were affecting vulnerability to hazards in the region.

[26] She found that cities in the developing world resulted in 86% of the energy reduction, because they have potential to design strategies to promote short commutes.