She received a degree in Earth sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a doctorate in geology from Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia).
In 2020, she became the first woman to travel almost seven miles to the lowest known point in the ocean, within the Mariana Trench in the Pacific.
After leaving Nasa in 1993, she served as chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
She is a private pilot, rated in powered and glider aircraft.