Olivia is a Doctoral Candidate at University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), from which she also obtained her MS degree. She is also affiliated with multiple interdisciplinary programs across UM, including the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program (https://stpp.fordschool.umich.edu/) based in the Ford School of Public Policy; the Science, Technology, and Society Program (https://lsa.umich.edu/sts); and the African Studies Center (https://ii.umich.edu/asc).

In her research, Olivia is interested in how policy processes and outcomes can advance social and environmental justice and the role of activism in policy-making, with a focus on drinking water policy and politics. Her work draws on and integrates scholarship from multiple fields including environmental justice, policy studies, science and technology studies, and political ecology. Her dissertation research investigates the politics of drinking water policy and infrastructures, using cases of severe water access inequality in Detroit, Michigan and Cape Town, South Africa. In her free time, Olivia is usually swimming, cooking/eating, or walking her dog, Alice.