She received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 2008 under the direction of Michael T. Green in the field of bioinorganic chemistry. After receiving her Ph.D., she transitioned into synthetic inorganic chemistry at the University of California-Irvine as a postdoctoral associate with Andrew S. Borovik. Kari has been at Benedictine University since 2009 maintaining an active research program with undergraduate students. Her research interests involve production of protein and small molecule catalysts for oxygen activation of small molecules.