Emily lives in Portland, OR, but hails originally from Cincinnati, OH, where she graduated with a six-year Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2002 from the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Through the college's cooperative education system, Emily had the opportunity to work in architecture firms in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York City, as well as study design in Europe for three months. Upon graduation, she worked in architecture firms for several years, where she became passionate about sustainable design and resilient cities. This led her to the Master of Building Science program in the USC School of Architecture, where she focused her research on residential energy efficiency, net zero energy architecture, and sustainable urbanism. At USC, Emily was the President of the Graduate Architecture Student Association (GASA), the Graduate Student Representative to the AIA-LA’s Board of Directors, and a member of the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation inaugural Student Advisory Board. After graduating from USC with awards in Leadership and for Outstanding Graduate Thesis, Emily moved to Portland, where she currently works at CLEAResult, leading a team of energy program designers and analysts across the country. Emily remains engaged in the local and regional building community; she has taught as an adjunct instructor at the University of Oregon, Portland extension; she was an at-large representative to the City of Portland's Residential Infill Project Stakeholder Advisory Committee; and she has been the appointed public member of the Oregon Governor's Residential and Manufactured Structures code advisory Board since 2011.