Love was born in New England.[1] She grew up in Rochester, New York. Love realized she was interested in science whilst at high school, but it was not until the second year of college that she realized her favourite science was chemistry.[2] She was an undergraduate student at Allegheny College, and graduated magna cum laude.[3] She moved to Stanford University for graduate studies, where she studied metal-catalyzed reactions to generate seven membered rings.[2] Her thesis considered rhodium-catalysed cycloadditions, and was amongst the first studies to create a biologically active natural product.[4] At Stanford, Love worked in the laboratory of Paul Wender.[2]
In 2003, Love moved to Canada to start her independent scientific career at the University of British Columbia. At UBC, Love led a research group on organometallic chemistry.[3] She also served as Senior Advisor on Women Faculty.[6]
Love moved to the University of Calgary in 2019, where her work focuses on how the metallic center influences the reactivity.[3]