Dr. Cooper is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University. She is trained as both a biologist and biology education researcher. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Arizona, her M.S. in Biology from San Francisco State University, and her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona. Her master's research identified 9 new mushroom species to science through morphological and molecular analysis. Her doctoral research investigated how university-level inquiry laboratory instructors navigate instruction. She received additional training as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Georgia, where she served as the principal investigator (PI) on an NSF-funded project that characterized the specialized knowledge CURE instructors rely on to support students through various research challenges (The CURE Instruction Study).