Chien-Shiung Wu
During her time at Barnard and Columbia, Koller worked as a laboratory assistant to Chien-Shiung Wu, an experimental physicist whose work focused on beta decay. Wu became a mentor and friend. Upon Wu's death, Koller spoke about her at the meeting of the American Physical Society; Koller later wrote a brief biography of Dr. Wu for the National Academy of Sciences. She has written that Wu was an "extremely careful experimentalist," and credits Wu with giving her a hands-on education with experimental technique.