[3][4] She left to pursue graduate work in plant pathology, first as a research assistant at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then as a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she was supported by a Boston Alumne Fellowship.

[1] Elliott was recruited by the bacteriologist Erwin Frink Smith to work in the Bureau of Plant Industry at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

[1][2] Among her scientifically notable papers is one establishing the role of the flea beetle as a vector in the development of the disease known as Stewart's wilt in corn (maize).

[1] This research led to a method for forecasting how bad the disease would be in any given year based on temperature indexes that reflected how successfully the beetles had survived the preceding winter.

[2] Elliott wrote a widely used book, Manual of Bacterial Plant Pathogens, first published in 1930, reissued with revisions in 1951, and still being drawn on by researchers today.