She pursued doctoral studies in Chemistry and Chemical Physics at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and earned the Ph.D. degree in 1978, under the direction of Mark A.

She co-developed THEMATICS[5][6][7] (Theoretical Microscopic Anomalous Titration Curve Shapes), a simple computational predictor of functional information about proteins from their three-dimensional structure alone.

She is also the co-developer, with Wenxu Tong and Ronald J. Williams, of a novel machine learning technology called Partial Order Optimum Likelihood (POOL).

She has recently served on the board of advisors of the Washington, D.C.–based Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC), representing the interests of community and tribal stakeholders.

[16] A passionate advocate for stewardship of the Earth, she previously has served on the Conservation Commission for Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and on the Community Leaders Network of the U.S. Department of Energy.