Rene started diving in high school and in 1971 received dual degrees in Marine Biology Technology and Professional Diving. In 1976 she became a diver for The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while she was working as a Survey Technician aboard the NOAA Ship Oceanographer". Rene went on to receive her Ph.D. in Neuroscience and joined the Navy in 1988. Later she integrated her neuroscience experience with her passion for diving as a Research Physiologist at the Naval Medical Research Center in the Operational and Undersea Medicine Department with her primary focus being on researching hyperbaric oxygen toxicity."