Beyerlein worked as a theorist at
Los Alamos National Laboratory for several years, where she was co-director of the Energy Frontiers Research Center. In 2016, Beyerlein joined the
University of California, Santa Barbara. She has studied how plastic deformations propagate through materials and how strain localization can give rise to the initiation of slip bands. Beyerlein is the editor of
Scripta Materialia In 2019, Beyerlein was recognized as a Brimacombe Medalist by
The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society for her "groundbreaking work on the plasticity of HCP metals and metal
nanocomposites as well as for her commitment to mentorship of the next generation of materials scientists." To date, Beyerlein has published over 500 academic manuscripts, and has been cited over 30,000 times, resulting in an
h-index and
i10-index of 93 and 390 respectively. == Awards and honors ==