Lystrup received a B.S. in physics from Portland State University, where she conducted research in radio astronomy. She then became a full-time volunteer for AmeriCorps, focusing on STEM education. Lystrup then went on to graduate school at University College London,and earned a Ph.D in astrophysics under the advisement of Steve Miller; her thesis is entitled "Near infrared studies of Jupiter's upper atmosphere." She conducted postdoctoral research as a National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Research Fellow, working at the Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado (for which she wrote an undergraduate science career timeline), and at the University of Liège in Belgium. Her research focused on investigating planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, in particular those of Jupiter.
