Working with her husband, the late archaeologist and theologian Kevin J. Sharpe, she spent 10 years developing methodologies to study finger flutings.

Their work on finger flutings was the first to show symbolic behavior by children[1] in the Paleolithic through the creation of tectiforms in Rouffignac.

As daughter of American Museum of Natural History curator Richard Van Gelder, she spent periods of her childhood involved in field work with him in East Africa and in the U.S. National Parks.

Later she taught high school in northern New Jersey and left in 1998 to pursue a PhD in Place Studies at the Union Institute and University for which she was the recipient of the Sussman Award.

Past attendees have included Joseph Meeker, Ron Engel, Patrick Curry, John Elder, Moya Cannon, Patricia Monaghan, Nuala O'Faolin among others.