Her interest in environmental issues peaked in high school where she attended a fair on Earth Day in 1970 at Stanford University.
[3] After earning her Bachelor of Arts from Yale, Bahr served in a geotechnical firm and worked on hydrogeology projects.
After her four-year career in this firm, she realized her passion for hydrology and then went to pursue a graduate degree in the field of hydrogeology.
[3] From 1987 up to the present, Bahr has been serving as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Madison where she is now an emeritus professor.
She also served as faculty co-director of the undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering Residential Learning Community from 2003 to 2005.