Cynthia teaches in the landscape architecture and environmental design programs. She has practiced landscape architecture in British Columbia and taught landscape architecture at the University of Oregon and the University of British Columbia. She is a registered Landscape Architect in British Columbia and a Fellow of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Her work focuses on sustainable urban design, the public realm, and tools for urban design. With Ronald Kellett, she co-directs the elementslab, a research group in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and housed in the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability. The lab develops methods and tools of measured visualizations for public engagement in community planning and design. Cynthia and Ron are co-authors of elementsdb, a database of field-measured examples of urban land uses, intended as a decision-support tool for students, professionals, and researchers in the quest to design more sustainable urban regions.