her work focused on the periods of time when Earth's oceans were starved for oxygen, which led to oceanic anoxic events that led to the creation of black sediment deposits. In doing so, she looked at the geological record of planet Earth to better understand what had taken place millions of years ago. Later, as Pratt was completing her post-doctoral work at the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, she was brought on for a project in which she studied microorganisms in the extreme heat of active African gold mines. This was significant as it led to NASA looking to bring Pratt in to help study the microorganisms effected on their future projects. This project led to NASA funding one of her projects In 2011, in which she received a $2.4 million grant from NASA's Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets program to study microorganisms on the Greenland Ice Sheet. While Pratt has been a faculty member for Indiana University at Bloomington since 1987, she has a history of working with NASA since the early 2000s. She served as a team director at the NASA Astrobiology Institute from 2003 to 2008. Pratt also served as a chair for NASA's Mars Exploration Program Analysis from 2013 to 2016, and currently serves as a chair for the Return Sample Science Board for the Mars 2020 Rover mission. In June 2017, the application for the position of Planetary Protection Officer was posted, but Pratt was hesitant to apply. She says that encouragement from her daughter led to her submitting her name, and on February 5, 2018, Pratt was also brought on to serve as the Planetary Protection Officer for NASA, leaving her role as Indiana University's College of Arts and Sciences dean to do so. She was one out of a rumored 1,400 applicants who very vying for the position to actually attain it. She had two responsibilities at NASA: first, protecting the Earth in event of extraterrestrial involvement, and second, ensuring that Earth's microbes do not travel and impact other planets in the solar system. Her research at NASA focuses on the developing the tools and techniques needed to avoid organic-constituent and biological contamination during either human or robotic missions. Additionally, Pratt was responsible for updating planetary policies in response to changing federal legislation. In May 2021, President Biden announced the appointment of J. Nick Benardini to replace Pratt as Planetary Protection