Keen was born in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. She attended elementary school in
Ottawa In 1964 Keen became the first woman to go to sea on the Canadian Survey Ship Hudson. As a woman, Keen was technically not allowed to be on board, but was smuggled aboard with
Frances Wagner in the
Strait of Canso. She published her first
Nature paper whilst still an undergraduate student. She moved to the United Kingdom, where she completed a PhD at the
University of Cambridge and was one of the first two women members of her department. During her doctoral studies, she investigated the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and her thesis included the first demonstration of seismic refraction experiments near a ridge. After completing her PhD, Keen joined the Atlantic Oceanography Lab of Energy, Mines and Resources in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. == Career ==