Hatzell studied economics at Swarthmore College and mechanical engineering at Pennsylvania State University.
[1] She moved to Drexel University for her doctoral research, where she studied flowable electrodes for water and energy technologies with Yury Gogotsi.
[2] After graduating, she moved to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she developed soft and hard x-ray techniques to understand the properties of polymers.
[citation needed] Her research considers new materials for sustainable technologies, with a focus on solid-state and redox flow batteries.
[7] Hatzell has developed strategies to minimize the costs of direct air capture systems, which generally require energy-intensive operating protocols to reduce the impact of carbon emissions and remove them from the atmosphere.