Lia supports digital humanities and multi-modal heritage preservation research at The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (CPCRS, Weitzman School of Design). Before arriving at Penn, she led outreach for public programming at the Los Angeles Conservancy, focusing on developing relationships and programs highlighting immigrant and diasporic enclaves in L.A. Previously, Lia was the Mellon Community-Engaged Learning Fellow at Grinnell College, where she helped design public humanities curriculum with faculty and community partners in rural Iowa. 

Lia holds a Master's in Sustainable Cultural Heritage from The American University of Rome and a Bachelor's in History from the University of Toronto. Her research centers on ways of knowing, collective memory, and regional vernacular landscapes in the heritage interpretation field.