Dr. Bell completed her PhD in Genetics at the University of Georgia in 2009 after graduating from the University of Florida in 2001 with a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology.  Prior to joining the faculty at George Mason University, she was an assistant professor and biology program coordinator at Brevard College in North Carolina, and a research fellow at the College of Charleston studying marine evolutionary ecology and molecular ecology. 

Her dissertation research focused on population genetic differentiation in the marine isopod, Idotea balthica, and the correlation of those genetic differences to mating behavior and adaptations in feeding behavior.