She became a Post-Doctoral Fellow with William R. Jeffery studying gene expression during ascidian egg development.
[3] In 1988, Swalla and Jeffery traveled to the Station Biologique in Roscoff, France, to study the evolution and development of ascidians.
Shortly after, Swalla won a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to study developmental biology at the Bodega Marine Laboratory at the University of California.
[1] Swalla's research is on molecular analysis of invertebrate evolution and development, and ranges from studying hemichordates to chordates to ctenophores.
Her work on other animal taxa, such as echinoderms and hemichordates, provides comparisons in gene expression and body plan development.
She led fundraising efforts of over $10,000,000 and created a Fire Mitigation plan to protect the campus from wildfires.