Kies worked as a public school teacher for three years before going against the traditional gender norms of her time and completing an M.S.

As a child, her family, including Kies and her three sisters, Cosette, Camilla, and Carolyn[2] moved to a farm in Platteville, Wisconsin.

Kies attended Wisconsin State College, Platteville, where she earned a Regents Fellowship and other academic honors.

[5] Kies' dissertation was titled "Effect of Essential to Non-essential Amino Acid Relationships in Adult Man and in the Rat".

[6] As a graduate researcher, Kies worked in the laboratories of Hellen Linkswiler and May Reynolds in the department of home economics.

[3] After completing her doctorate, Kies joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) in 1963 as an assistant professor in the department of food and nutrition.

Kies' advancements in the understanding of protein metabolism stemmed from her pioneering use of human subjects to research nutrients and their interactions through controlled feeding studies.

[3] In exchange for housing, American and international students participated in feeding studies that involved controlled diets and the collection of urine and stool samples.

Her research found that the essential amino acid and mineral requirements did not vary by race, ethnicity or sex.

Conversely, Kies found that plasma lipoproteins and lipids varied among races with Asian women having higher values.

[10] In 1973, Kies' work in the agronomy program entailed testing the nutritional value of new lines of wheat developed by plant breeders.

[7] Their study found that butanediol and urea are potentially valuable nutritional additives for humans based on their lack of demonstrated toxicity, low cost, and availability.

Focusing on preschool-aged children, they studied the urine levels of creatinine, nitrogen, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and niacin.

With Fox, Kies researched the nutrition knowledge and attitudes of farmers and wheat and beef producers in Nebraska.

Both Kies and Saltman's research suggested that manganese-deficient diets resulted in progressively weaker bones in both animals and humans.

The department was specifically analyzing the manganese, potassium, and sodium levels in diabetic and non-diabetic mothers and their infants.

Kies and Fox demonstrated that increases in low-quality protein foods can support nutritional requirements of human adults.

She observed correlations between the absorption rate of iron, zinc, and manganese and decreased intake of dietary cholesterol and fat.

Kies found that calcium supplements increased copper absorption while magnesium, selenium, and potassium decreased it.

[3] Kies was interested in Inuit and Native American weaving, carving, sculpture, and pottery because she was intrigued by pieces she could touch.

[2] Kies received the Borden Award and $1,000 from the American Home Economics Association in 1973 in recognition of her research in the field of nutrition and experimental foods.