Krebs stepped down in 2000 to work on research and development management, planning and budgeting for the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. In 2001 she became the founding director for California NanoSystems Institute at University of California, Los Angeles. From 2005 to 2009 Krebs was the deputy director for research and development at the California Energy Commission. In 2013 she was appointed senior scientist at Penn State College of Engineering and director of the energy efficient buildings hub at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
