1967 - Educated and earned BS, in Radcliffe College.
1973 - Earned a degree of PhD Molecular Biology, in California Institute of Technology.
1977 - 1979 - She was director of the Office of Global Issues of the National Security Council, covering nuclear proliferation, conventional arms sales policy, chemical and biological warfare, and human rights.
1980 - 1982 - She served on the editorial board of the Washington Post.
- She became a weekly columnist for the Washington Post, writing a column that appeared nationwide and in the International Herald Tribune.
1982 - 1993 - She was founding vice president and director of research of the World Resources Institute, an internationally known center for policy research on environmental and natural-resource management issues.
1993 - She returned to government as deputy to the Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs.
1993 - 1997 - She was a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
1997 - Served as director of the Council’s Washington program.
- While there, she published her seminal Foreign Affairs article, "Power Shift", chosen by the editors as one of the most influential in the journal's 75 years.