Kistler has a B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland. As of 2021, Kistler is a professor of physics and the director of the Space Science Center at the University of New Hampshire. In 2016, Kistler was elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union. The citation recognized her "... prolific seminal contributions to our understanding of the role of heavy terrestrial ions in magnetospheric structure and dynamics."