Michelle grew up on Long Island and received her B.A. in chemistry and economics at Dartmouth College in 2015. Michelle then pursued her graduate studies at Northwestern University with Professor Michael Wasielewski. In her graduate work, she studied a photophysical process called singlet fission in rylenediimide covalent dimers and thin films. After she received her PhD in 2020, Michelle joined the Swager lab as a postdoctoral associate.