[2] Her high school physics teacher, John M. Brown, encouraged her interests, suggesting she pursue a post-graduate degree in astronomy or astrophysics, and connected her with astrophysicist Reva Williams who also encouraged her to pursue a Ph.D. Quick received her Bachelor of Science degree in physics from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, graduating summa cum laude.

As the class was composed solely of African American women who were pursuing undergraduate degrees in the physical and biological sciences, it significantly contributed to Quick's positive growth and development as a young scientist.

[2] Quick then attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where she received her Master of Science degree in physics with a concentration in astrophysics.

There, she pursued research at both the Applied Physics Laboratory, with mentorship from Louise Prockter, and at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Quick specialized in planetary magmatism and volcanology,[2] and her dissertation was entitled Europa: Cryomagmatic Processes & Cryovolcanic Surface Expressions.

[1] As a Bromery Fellowship recipient, Quick met geologist and Tuskegee Airman Dr. Randolph Bromery while pursuing her Ph.D. After completing her doctoral degree, Quick became a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center, studying volcanic domes on Venus and Europa, and later expanding her research to include studying cryovolcanic activity on Saturn's moon Enceladus.

[1] She has also applied her expertise to characterizing the surface of the crater-laden dwarf planet Ceres, located in our solar system's asteroid belt.

[12][13] She and her team compared these estimates, as well as considerations like density and temperature, to Earth as well as Enceladus and Europa, which are known to be ocean worlds, containing significant amounts of water beneath their surfaces.

[14][12] Future missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, can make more observations of these exoplanets to better understand their geologic activity and look for signs of life.