She has degrees in mathematics, computer science, and aerospace, and is a part-time consultant for Schenley Park Research, an artificial intelligence company.

"'Pandora's Dogs' was the first story that I wrote after moving from Boston to Pittsburgh. I had been wondering about the creation of robot-pets, and also about possible futures in which all mammals (other than humans) were extinct. It distresses me to think how many strange and wonderful animals -- from rhinoceroses to elephants to types of bats -- may be extinct in a few decades."