 She then earned her PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution joint doctoral program in 1989.Prior to joining the NSF as Deputy Head of OPP on 3 January 2011, Falkner was a Professor at Oregon State University's College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences from 1992-2011.She taught and conducted research using state-of-the-art chemical measurements to investigate a wide array of environmental topics.