Her research involves field measurements and computational models to understand coastal processes.
[1] She studied physics at the University of Toronto, where she was encouraged by a Professor to choose a "softer" field, such as Oceanography.
[2] When Hickey started her academic career at the University of Washington she was one of only a handful of women working in physical oceanography in the United States.
[3] Hickey combines onshore sampling and offshore measurements with computational models of water movement, salinity and temperature off the coast of Washington.
[9][10] In 1988 Hickey was elected President of the Ocean Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union.