Erica earned her PhD in Urban Studies and Public Affairs, with a specialty in Environmental issues in 2012. Prior to this she earned her M.S. in Ecology and B.S. in Biology at Youngstown State University. Her teaching and research interests have involved broadly environmental and urban issues, water issues, and nonprofit management and decision making surrounding risk. Her work has been published in The Journal of Great Lakes Research; Environment, Development, and Sustainability, The Ohio Journal of Science and other outlets.