Kelly was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she lived until 11 before moving to Korea. She graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Sogang University. Before graduate school, she did a variety of work including interpretation services for an Indian construction firm, working as a security operator at the Pyeongchang Olympics, and was employed as an engineer at a 3D printing startup. Currently, Kelly is co-advised by Professor Ertekin and Professor van der Zande, where she is delving deeper into research to understand how strain affects the optoelectronic properties of 2D materials. She strives to combine high-throughput computation with experiments. In her free time, she likes to explore new places and try new things.