In 2012-2013, Mary is working with CNS-UCSB as a Postdoctoral Scholar from the University of California Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC CEIN).

Mary received her Ph.D from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management in Fall 2012. She was formerly a graduate fellow with UC CEIN and has been working with CNS-UCSB since 2009.  With Dr. Bill Freudenburg, Mary conducted two research projects on the environmental sociology of engineered nanomaterials.  The first uses theoretical perspectives to inform potential policy decisions and how the public's role can be conceptualized.  Mary and Bill also conducted a comparative-historical case study examining the emergence of nanotechnology in comparison with the emergence of the nuclear power.  Mary's dissertation looked at the siting of nanoremediation projects and their intersection with environmental justice issues.   

Mary received her bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and her masters degree in applied sociology from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.  At CNS, she is part of Barbara Herr Harthorn's Risk Perception research group.