She has also played an integral role in developing systems to better study the rhizosphere without digging it up and interfering with the ecosystems using stable isotopes and mathematical modeling.
She completed her education by conducting research as a DOE Global Change Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
[7] In 2007, Cardon assumed a position as Senior Scientist at the Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, in Woods Hole, MA.
Her work draws from multiple disciplines and perspectives in order to understand how interactions among plant roots, microbes, and minerals facilitate exchanges of resources in these systems.
In 2015 Cardon participated in a forum on "Microbiome Innovation: Roadmap to the Future" that was hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.