- As an undergraduate student at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, she lived in Alexandra Hall, and was awarded a BSc degree (by the University of London) in 1910.
- Kathleen stayed in Aberystwyth to conduct post-graduate research.
- 1914: Kathleen and her sister, Bessey, who had also studied in Aberystwyth, changed their name from Zimmerman to Carpenter.
- 1923–25: She produced some of the first detailed assessments of British running water fauna.
- 1928: She published her book, 'Life in Inland Waters', the first freshwater ecology textbook in English.
- 1930: Kathleen moved to McGill University in Montreal, Canada to lecture on animal ecology.
- 1931–36: She became Head of the Department of Biology at Washington College, USA, establishing the college’s Biological Society and natural history collections.
- She moved to Liverpool University ahead of the Second World War, where she produced one of the first detailed studies of the diet of a young salmon from the river Dee.
‘Her textbook “Life in Inland Waters” (dedicated to her father) was published in 1928. This first freshwater ecology
textbook in English is informed with illustrations, data and inferences made from Welsh waters, and has a high dependence on European and American scientific literature.’ – Catherine Duigan, ‘Who was… Kathleen Carpenter?’, ‘The Biologist’ vol. 65, no. 3 (June 2016), p. 22-25 – https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/who-was-kathleen-carpenter