In 2010, she earned her PhD from the School of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS), with a focus on Environmental Health Engineering. While a doctoral student in EHS, Kristen’s research focused on the concentration and molecular detection and characterization of human enteric viruses in various water sources as well as in foodstuffs implicated in foodborne disease outbreaks. Her thesis work involved investigating human and animal enteric viruses in the water environment by optimizing and applying advanced sampling and molecular detection methods that may be used for microbial source tracking.