Edwards also helped organize the deep biosphere research community by heading the Fe-Oxidizing Microbial Observatory Project on Loihi Seamount, and serving on several program steering committees involving ocean drilling.

[1] In 1996 Edwards left her work at the airport to attend the University of Wisconsin, Madison where she studied geochemistry, mineralogy, microbiology, oceanography, molecular biology and ecology.

[3] There she established a geomicrobiology lab, which focused on the microbial transformation and degradation of solid Earth materials, specifically rocks, minerals, and organic matter.

Her 2000 paper, "An Archaeal Iron-oxidizing Extreme Acidophile Important in Acid Mine Drainage" featured as the cover story in the journal Science.

Edwards also published a blog on Scientific American's website, relating the experiences of her team so members of the public could follow the events as they occurred during a research expedition in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean.

Because of its abundance, dynamic solubility, and oxidation-reduction properties, iron is an important element in the biochemistry of mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems.

This and other studies by Edwards have revealed how microbes can live deep in the Earth's crust in bedrock that was previously thought to be devoid of life.