Graduated from Glen Este High School in Cincinnati, Ohio with the Class of 1999, she attended the University of Cincinnati-Clermont College, then transferred to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she earned her bachelor's degree in geology in 2002. She went on to earn a master's degree in geology from Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, in 2004 and then completed her PhD in geology at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, in 2008.