Cynthia received her Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. There she focused on engineering analysis and mechatronics. At Rensselaer, she recieved the NASA Scholar Award.

Following Rensselaer, she received her Master's degree from Stanford University where she focused on experimental mechanics and finite elements.

After graduating from Stanford, she joined the NASA Ames Research Center's BioVis Lab where she worked on projects ranging from modeling the effects of weightlessness on bone formation to designing simulations for astronaut training. While working on deformable object modeling schemes, her interests in computer graphics and immersive audio simulations led her to the University California at Berkeley.

She is in her sixth year in the Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley, working on sound synthesis from shape-changing objects.

Cynthia also works part-time with one of Apple Computer's audio groups.