Mary Agnes Frances Carlin was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on August 21, 1906. She attended Columbia University in New York where she earned a BS (1931) and an MA in Health Education (1933). She received an MS from Cornell University (1943) and a PhD from Iowa State College (University) (1947).



Carlin taught at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana (1934-1938), Georgetown Junior College in Washington, D.C. (1938-1941), the New York State College of Home Economics in Ithaca, New York (1941-1943), and Hood College in Frederick, Maryland (1943-1945). During the summer of 1943, Carlin worked for the United State Soil, Plant, and Nutrition Laboratory in Ithaca, New York, and during the summer of 1944, she worked for the General Foods Corporation in the Bird’s Eye Snider Division. In 1945, Carlin became an industrial research fellow at Iowa State College (University). After earning a PhD in Foods and Nutrition, she became an assistant professor (1947), associate professor (1953), professor (1953), and professor emeritus (1977) of Foods and Nutrition at Iowa State College (University).



During her time at Iowa State University, Carlin published many scholarly articles on food quality, evaluation, processing, and packaging, particularly for meat, eggs, and poultry. She held memberships in numerous professional, scientific, and service organizations, including the American Home Economics Association, the American Meat Science Association, Institute of Food Technologists, the New York Academy of Science, American Institute of Chemists, Poultry Science Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Iota Sigma Pi, Sigma Delta Epsilon, Pi Lambda Theta, Phi Tau Sigma, and Omicron Nu.



Carlin died on January 2, 1988.