In 1987 the group began a program in scholarship that resulted in all receiving doctoral degrees; Marcellino's was in molecular and cell biology/microbiology.[1] She began with introductory sciences courses at The University of Connecticut’s campus in Waterbury, but it was during a visit by UCONN organic chemistry professor Nina Stein to the abbey’s cheese cellar, that the professor suggested that she focus her research on the microbiology of cheese ripening.[5]