Crisp is a planetary geologist specializing in Mars geology.

[1][2] Crisp was born in Colorado Springs, CO. She earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Carleton College in 1979, and both a Master's (1981) and a PhD (1984) from Princeton University.

[3] Subsequently, Crisp was a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA for more than two years.

Her studies involved investigating rocks from the Canary Islands under conditions similar to those within volcanoes.

[3][4] She is the deputy project scientist for the MSL Curiosity rover mission.