Pia graduated with her PhD in American Studies from Brown University. She received her B.A. in English and Women's Studies from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, where she graduated with honors and won the prize for best senior thesis in the WMST department. She is committed to teaching and mentoring students of all backgrounds. She's taught classes on topics ranging from Asian American Studies to Latina/o Literature to the history of American popular culture, helping her students hone their writing and analysis skills. She's a firm believer in the importance of interdisciplinarity, and seeing how the humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences all connect. She's counseled students on how to excel in class, helped them discover topics that they're passionate about, and aided them in their graduate school applications.