Studying fungi in France on a Fulbright Scholarship,[2] she concentrated on the positive effects of decay and putrefaction as well as the odors and flavors of cheese.
[4] The Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, gave permission for members of the cloistered community of Benedictine nuns of Abbey of Regina Laudis to embark on a pilgrimage for higher education.
[5] In 1987 the group began a program in scholarship that resulted in all receiving doctoral degrees; Marcellino's was in molecular and cell biology/microbiology.
[5] She began with introductory sciences courses at The University of Connecticut's campus in Waterbury, but it was during a visit by UCONN organic chemistry professor Nina Stein to the abbey's cheese cellar, that the professor suggested that she focus her research on the microbiology of cheese ripening.
[5] She won a Fulbright scholarship[6] to France to collect and examine native strains of fungi, with an emphasis on Geotrichum candidum,[7] from traditional cheese caves and stayed an additional three years, analyzing the samples on a grant from the French government.