Carol earned her BA from Dartmouth College and PhD from Cambridge University, both in earth sciences, and joined the faculty of geology and geophysics at the University of Wyoming in 1983. She became a professor emerita of the university in 2020. Carol served as division director for earth sciences at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. from 2014 to 2018, overseeing the merit review process for basic research and education awards to scientists at universities and research institutions in the United States.
In 2006, Carol became the founding director of the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming, where she implemented the strategic plan for the school and launched a major research programme in carbon sequestration. Prior administrative positions include vice president for special projects, associate provost and associate vice president of research, all at the University of Wyoming.
A fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America, Geological Society of America, and the Geochemical Society, Carol is also a past president of the Mineralogical Society of America, chair of the American Geophysical Union’s publications committee, and a councillor for the Geological Society of America.
Carol’s current research focuses on the Precambrian evolution of the continental crust and granite petrogenesis.