Slater went on to study entomology at Cornell University, working as a research assistant for John Henry Comstock.

She went on to teach within the New York City Department of Education, most notably at Washington Irving High School in Gramercy Park.

[1][5] While working with Comstock in 1899, she reported in an article titled The Egg-Carrying Habit of Zaitha that male Zaitha flumineum carry eggs and that the females are "obliged to capture the male in order to deposit the eggs", corrected an error made by Comstock that had been published in American textbooks.

[1] While teaching at Washington Irving, she would borrow slides from the American Museum of Natural History and animals from the Bronx Zoo for her lectures.

[1] Every month, she would arrange for a member of the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Education to lecture to the entire 5,000-person student body in the school auditorium.