Klein was interested in medicine as a child. Her father was a doctor, and she spent a lot of her childhood in his office. Klein studied English at Barnard College. She completed her undergraduate degree in 1979, and became a science writer. She was appointed a technician at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she was involved with a research project studying Puerto Rican monkey colonies. She became interested in geology, and earned tuition credits to study courses at Columbia University. Klein earned her master's degree in geology at Columbia University, where she remained for her doctoral studies. She investigated the chemical composition of the volcanic rocks collected from mid-ocean ridgesaround the world. She was awarded the Bruce C. Heezen Memorial Prize for her doctoral thesis in 1987. She worked with Charles Langmuir on mid-ocean ridge basalts. Langmuir and Klein demonstrated that the chemical composition of basalt correlates with the physical environment the basalt is recovered from; including the depth and thickness of the oceanic crust. This work marked a paradigm shift in the understanding of petrogenesis.
Research and career
Klein joined Duke University as an Assistant Professor in 1989. She was made Professor in 2005. Klein studies the movement of magma in the oceanic crust. She is interested in mid-ocean ridge, a globe encircling belt of volcanoes including the mid-Atlantic ridge. Klein has been on over eleven oceanographic cruises, investigating Incipient Ridge, Hess Deep and Pito Deep Rift. She uses remotely operated underwater vehicles to map the deep ocean, and directs submersible vessels to collect rock samples. She puts these rocks in a furnace, then analyses the chemical composition of the rocks using spectrometers. She is mainly interested in silica, iron, magnesium and aluminium, but also analyses trace elements such as copper, vanadium and uranium. On a cruise of the RV Atlantis, Klein discovered new deep seahydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean. The vents, which Klein named the medusa hydrothermal vents, emit hot springs of iron-darkened water. In 2018 Klein took part in the RV Sally Ride investigation of the Cocos-Nazca spreading system. From 2004 to 2012, Klein served as Director of the Baldwin Scholars' Program at Duke University, which provides leadership opportunities for women students. Klein was appointed Chair of Earth & Ocean Sciences at the Nicholas School in 2017.
