Professor McKinley earned a BS in Civil Engineering from Rice University and a PhD in Climate Physics and Chemistry from MIT. From 2004-2017, she was a Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Her current service activities include the National Academies Ocean Studies Board and the Climate and Global Dynamics Advisory Panel at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In 2020, the American Geophysical Union presented her with the Ocean Science Voyager Award for her leadership in the scientific community.