Sarah received a PhD from the Wark, UniSA in 2003. She then accepted a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Western Ontario where her research focused on the surface electronic structure of 3d transition metal sulfide and arsenide fracture surfaces using Synchrotron X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy (SXPS) and X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES). Upon returning to Australia in 2005, Sarah worked in the Manufacturing & Infrastructure Technology division of CSIRO. In 2006 she returned to the Wark as a Research Fellow within the Australian Mineral Science Research Institute (AMSRI). In 2012 she took up an ARC Future Fellowship at Flinders University to study the interaction between bacteria and mineral surfaces using advanced synchrotron nanospectroscopic techniques.

The application and development of spectroscopic techniques for minerals processing and the interface between bacteria and mineral surfaces.Techniques include: Synchrotron X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (SXPS); X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES); Photoemission Electron Microscopy (PEEM); Scanning Photoelectron Microscopy (SPEM); Scanning Transmision X-ray Microscopy (STXM); Conventional XPS; Time of Flight Secondary IonMass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS); NanoSIMS.