Her early research studied quantum field theory in curved space, including a treatment of rotating frames of reference. She was a graduate student under Bryce DeWitt at the University of Texas, where she received her Doctor of Philosophy in 1984.
More recently, her work has focused on applications of the octonions to the theory of fundamental particles. Her dissertation, titled The Vacuum in the Presence of Electromagnetic Fields and Rotating Boundaries, contained two separate results: a treatment of the gravitational Casimir effect in rotating reference frames, and a discussion of superradiance in both gravitational and electromagnetic contexts. The latter work revealed a physically important sign error in the treatment of the electromagnetic case in standard textbooks.
She is currently a professor of physics at Oregon State University.
In addition to her ongoing work in mathematical physics, she has made significant contributions in physics education. Since 1997, she has directed the Paradigms in Physics Project, a complete restructuring of the undergraduate physics major around several core "paradigms".
She is also coauthor of a book on the octonions to be released in 2015.
