[1][2] She went on to earn a master's degree[3] and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan working on the ecology of silver maple trees.
[3] From 1993 until 1994 Sakai was a program officer in the Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation.
[18] Sakai has defined the conditions that lead to a lack of retention of women in science [6] and has sought to broaden participation of underrepresented groups.
[19] In 2011, Sakai received funding from the National Science Foundation to establish the PLANTS program (Preparing Leaders and Nurturing Tomorrow's Scientists) which aims to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in botany.
[20][21] In the period from 2011 until 2015, more than 60 students were able to use this funding to attend a botany meeting and interact with mentors in the field.