Cara's photography has been displayed In Colorado, New York and Rhode Island. Her most current show is at the Raytheon Polar Services Company headquarters in Centennial, CO. Her pictures have also been featured in magazines such as Smithsonian, Hemispheres, and Apogee, in various Antarctic publications and on greeting cards, calendars, postcards, magnets and phone cards.

Cara earned an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester and a graduate degree in geochemical oceanography from the University of Rhode Island. As a second-year graduate student, Cara became the first American woman to conduct fieldwork at Vostok Station, a Russian research station in the Antarctic interior. After completing her degree, Cara spent two years in Washington DC working for the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program and for NOAAÕs Office of Global Programs.

Since 2000, Cara has worked in the area of Laboratory Operations, first at Palmer Station and now, McMurdo. She works for Raytheon Polar Services Company, the National Science FoundationÕs logistical contractor for the U.S. Antarctic Program. Cara has deployed to the Antarctic ten times (and counting).