In her previous capacities as Associate Director of Research and Training and as Policy Analyst, Laura began co-teaching ICLAD's Residence Program, developing the course "Legislative and Social Scientific Research Methods." She co-directs the Summer Internship Program for law students and graduate students, and she has served as Editor-at-Large for the Distance Course on Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change. In this role, she has consulted with legislation drafters and civil society representatives as they conduct research, formulate policy, and draft legislation.

Laura presents at workshops for legislators and government officials and staff, most recently serving as an instructor in the United Nations Development Programme-sponsored legislative strengthening program in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. She designs curricula on research methods employing the legislative problem-solving theory and on substantive topics, collaborates with specialists and country partners to generate articles and applied resources on a variety of issues of concern, and works with the Executive and Associate Directors to develop in-country develop programs and projects.

Laura previously participated in National Science Foundation-sponsored research at the Policy Research Institute regarding official-citizen interaction, worked with the Center for Russian and East European Politics on comparative elections research, and served as director at an education nonprofit. She is currently researching citizen participation in urban politics with Tufts Prof. Jeff Berry, and the effects of social networks on political behavior with Prof. Cheng-shan Liu of National Sun Yat-sen University's Institute of Political Science. She has taught political science and research methods. Her own research concerns institutional effects on political behavior, especially the comparative effects of legislation drafting institutions and citizen participation mechanisms on participation and governance outcomes.

After completing her M.A. in political science, Laura studied in the EITM Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, conducting her doctoral research at Boston University.