[9][3] After receiving her MA in Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania,[1] she went to work on ballistics research at the Aberdeen Proving Ground,[3] and later to teach at six HBCUs.

[9] She studied for a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but left after a year, later citing "a marriage, children, and the necessity to earn a living".

[10] Much of Gilmer's work has been in ethnomathematics; she was described as a "leader in the field" by Scott W. Williams, a mathematics professor at SUNY Buffalo.

[1] She was also the second person, and first woman, to give the National Association of Mathematicians' Cox-Talbot lecture, which was named in honour of the first and fourth African Americans to receive PhDs in mathematics.

[15] In 2008, Gilmer became the president of Math-Tech, a corporation that aims to take new research material and create more effective mathematics curricula, particularly with respect to women and minorities.