She won the well-known Westinghouse Science Talent Search competition as a high school student but chose to major in mathematics at Swarthmore College, where she received her bachelor's degree.
[1] Steiner was recruited to MIT in 1967 by Jack Buchanan, who headed the Division of Biochemistry within the biology department and was actively seeking out new young faculty.
[2] Steiner was involved in efforts led by Nancy Hopkins and joined by Mary-Lou Pardue and others to study the effects of gender discrimination on women faculty at MIT and bring the problem to the attention of then-President Charles Vest.
[5] Steiner received a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation fellowship to work with Eisen as a postdoctoral fellow and has continued her involvement with that organization, currently serving as its vice president.
[6] Steiner's research focuses on the evolution and development of the immune system in vertebrates, using as a model organism the zebrafish (Danio rerio).