Their interests include oceanography, geology, hydrology, numerical modelling, and geophysics.
In 1978, she received a PhD from the University of British Columbia in oceanography and geology.
In 1981, she moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to work as a senior research scientist for the Bedford Institute of Oceanography with the Canadian Federal Department Natural Resources Canada.
[1] From 1995-2007 Syvitski was director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, where she was also awarded professorships in geological sciences and geophysics.
[3] She has written over 500 publications,[4] including peer-reviewed and popular[5][6] articles and books.