Jeanne Darby is nationally recognized for innovations in engineering education and her research on UV disinfection has been seminal with regard to the critical factors controlling the disinfection process. Darby was awarded the first UC Davis College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award and the National Society of Professional Engineers Engineering Education Excellence Award. She was also a founding member of the Center for Women in Engineering at UC Davis and has been instrumental in revising the environmental engineering curriculum.

Soon after receiving her Ph.D. in 1988 from UT Austin, she joined the faculty in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis where she teaches a variety of courses related to water treatment. She held the Gerald T. and Lillian P. Orlob Professorship in Water Resources Engineering from 2005 to 2010 and was Department Chair from 2004 to 2009.