Hess develops and implements the science strategy for EMSL’s Environmental Transformations and Interactions Science Area. She is responsible for calls for proposals and user portfolio management for the science area. She identifies specific objectives/targets and guides the assembly of the needed computational and experimental platforms to implement the vision. She engages the research community in these activities by holding workshops and organizing summer schools and sessions at national meetings. She is also facilitating user access to multiple U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) user facilities through a single user proposal via the Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science program.

The thrust of Hess's current research is the application of high-resolution mass spectrometry to understand the molecular identity of natural organic matter and its transformation by microbial and physiochemical processes in the natural environment. Previous research background includes the application of molecular level spectroscopic techniques, such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy, neutron scattering and diffraction, in situ Raman, and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopies. She has contributed to DOE’s Basic Energy Sciences Hydrogen Storage program and worked on programs studying radiation effects in ceramics, the optical properties of dielectric thin films, and the development of rare-earth based optical sensors. She has led several DOE Environmental Remediation Sciences Program (ERSP) studies on technetium chemistry in high-level waste and the vadose zone, and she has contributed to several other ERSP programs at PNNL. She has participated in structural biology research on DNA repair proteins and environmental restoration characterization tasks, including actinide speciation in geological environments and Hanford tank sludge and supernate.