Prior to arriving at APSU, she was a postdoctoral associate at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, where her research focused on evolution, systematics and phylogeography of the North American catfish genus Noturus. From 2005-06, she was a research associate at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. She has a number of publications and papers in preparation and has presented at a number of conferences. Johansen is a member of the American Society of Ichthyologist and Herpetologist (ASIH), the Southern Division of ASIH, the Southeastern Fishes Council and the North American Benthological Society. She received both a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in biology from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Tulane University.