[1] Zerbini completed classical secondary school education (including Latin and Greek) and then decided to become a scientist.
From 1973 to 1981 she was supported by fellowships from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italian National Council of Research) and Zonta International.
Her research was important for using the LAGEOS data for precisely determining Earth's crustal motion, especially for the Mediterranean region and the San Andreas Fault.
In the SELF project from 1993 to 1998, scientists from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Russia used GPS techniques to measure sea-level variations to an accuracy of a few millimeters per year.
The SELF scientists made use of tide gauges, satellite-oriented reference and intermediate stations, and water vapor radiometers (WVRs).
[1][7][8] In the first decade of the 21st century, she and her colleagues used GPS and large, coordinated ensembles of superconducting gravimeters to study changes in Earth's mascons for the purpose of better understanding of tectonic movements.