[1][2] The title of her doctoral thesis, supervised by John Llewellyn and David Hall, was A study of some co-ordination compounds formed between nickel diammines and the nitrite ion.

[1] Waters was appointed as a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Auckland in 1961, rising to the rank of associate professor.

[4] Waters served as president of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry in 1989–1990, and was the first woman to hold the position.

[1][4] Following her formal retirement, Waters continued part-time research and teaching activities at Massey Albany.

[1][6] In the 2006 New Year Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to chemistry.