She is an American oceanographer, engineer, and NASA astronaut. She went to St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California, and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering in 1993. She received her Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in 2002. She is known for her self-appearance in Hubble (2010).