She studies the geography, geology and geopolitics of development and resource usage. She has carried out in-depth fieldwork in China, Brazil, and other countries that are affected by the mining of rare earth elements.
Klinger is the author of ''Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes'' (2017) which traces the history and use of rare earth elements from the 1880s to the present. ''Rare Earth Frontiers'' won the 2017 Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography given by the American Association of Geographers (AAG).