She is a physical oceanographer who is interested in studying mechanisms driving the transport and mixing of heat, nutrients, and planktonic organisms in coastal and estuarine systems and influences on coastal ecosystems. Kristen earned a Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering at Stanford University in 2009 and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington. Her recent research is focused on understanding nonlinear internal wave dynamics in the nearshore and physical processes creating environmental gradients in coastal ecosystems.