[4] Since 2007, she has studied the effect of UV radiation on DNA synthesis, carbon metabolism and mutation/DNA repair in the Rift Valley of Kenya and the Bolivian Andes, and also in high altitude experiments atop Mount Everest, in balloon payloads with BioLaunch.

[4] From 2011-2019, she served a faculty Advisor for the Stanford-Brown iGEM teams, which utilized synthetic biology to advance NASA's mission objectives, including BioWires and a biodegradable drone.

[4][5] During her time at Yale, she was mentored by prominent figures in the fields of phylogeny and organismal biology, including G. Evelyn Hutchinson, John Ostrom, and Willard Harman.

[7] This encounter led Rothschild to pursue a Master's degree in Zoology at Indiana University, which she completed in 1981 under to supervision of Tracy Sonneborn, a renowned protozoan geneticist.

[7] At Brown, Rothschild joined the algal research lab of Annette W. Coleman, where she focused on chloroplast evolution and the isolation of RuBisCO.

"[4] Rothschild then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown in the laboratory of Susan Gerbi, where she conducted research on yeast and the evolution of ribosomal DNA.

[5][10] Notable projects she superviesed include: Rothschild has explored the impact of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on life, both on Earth and potentially on other planetary bodies.

[22][23] One of her studies focused on carbon fixation in microbial mats located in evaporation ponds of the Ojo de Liebre Lagoon in Baja California, Mexico.

[22] These mats were selected as analogs for stromatolite fossils during the Proterozoic period due to their similar level of dissolved inorganic carbon to those predicted in ancient ocean models.

[5] In 2015, she was awarded the Horace Mann Medal by the Brown University Graduate School, which recognized her as "a pioneer in Astrobiology" and acknowledged her influential role in space and life science education.