Lilien moved from always sunny Los Angeles to not-so-sunny Chicago to pursue a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on using chemical and computational approaches to find out where DNA-protein structures called "nucleosomes" reside in the genome. Before starting graduate school, she taught English, science, music, and how to make a mean Rice Krispies treat to underprivileged youth in the rural villages of Tanzania.