Cara is an Energy Insecurity researcher currently helping CPREE with their research communications and outreach initiatives.  Her research extends to the infrastructural and material hardships that intersect with energy affordability, such as housing quality and grid reliability.  Cara recently received her Ph.D. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the Biden School of Public Policy at the University of Delaware.  She also has an M.A. in Economics from the University of Delaware and a B.A. of Economics and Mathematics Minor from Millersville University.  Her Dissertation titled “A Tale of Energy-Burdened Cities: Connecting the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to Energy Insecurity,” uses a modern difference-in-difference model to analyze the effect of LIHTC housing supply on urban energy burdens. 

In her spare time, Cara helps organizations and philanthropies with activities such as grant writing, partnership development, and on-the-ground outreach. One of these organizations include Foundation for a Healthier Senegal: A Senegalese health nonprofit where Cara spearheads sustainability initiatives and solar power projects as the Construction Project Manager of their new maternity clinic in Nganda.