Previously, at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Studemeister directed the Institute's Jeannette Rankin Library Program, co-directed the Virtual Diplomacy Initiative, she was co-editor of the Virtual Diplomacy Series at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She assisted in coordinating and implementing the Institute’s Latin America activities. Studemeister was instrumental in introducing digital libraries at the Institute and to the federal government For her contribution and dedication, Institute’s President, Richard Solomon, named the Institute’s international conflict management digital library: “The Margarita S. Studemeister Digital Library in International Conflict Management"

She is the author of articles on theoretical perspectives and applications of information and communications technologies in international conflict prevention, management, and resolution. Earlier, she was director of publications at the National Security Archive, a nonprofit library, publishing, and research organization for declassified government documents, and a consultant to the World Bank.

Studemeister also served as a consultant to a variety of nongovernmental human rights and community development groups in Central America. She has taught computer programming and database searching at the college level and for international institutions. She holds master's degrees in library and information science and in social science with an emphasis in Latin American studies, from the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco State University, respectively. She has doctoral studies in sociology from American University. Her language competencies include Spanish, French, German, and Russian.