In 1985, she earned her PhD in Oceanography and Limnology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a thesis entitled "Role of water-particle partitioning and sedimentation in controlling the fate and transport of PCBs in lakes" in the laboratory of David E.

PCBs are now widely considered an environmental contaminant as they've been shown to cause a variety of adverse health effects, including cancer, fertility complications, and neurologic disorders.

[3][4][5] Following her doctorate, Swackhamer became a postdoctoral research associate at Indiana University in Chemistry and Public & Environmental Affairs, working in Ronald A. Hites's group from 1985 to 1987.

For instance, her group found that the high water concentrations of the pesticide toxaphene in Lake Superior are the result of colder temperatures and lower sedimentation rates.

She was part of research efforts that uncovered reproductive complications in male fathead minnows exposed to wastewater treatment byproducts.

[11][12] Her group worked to develop methods to measure and assess the effects of suspended solids and chemical stressors in lakes on plankton populations and Daphnia, aquatic crustaceans also known as "water fleas".

She later served as chair of the EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), an independent and external panel of experts that advises the agency's office of science.

Her three-year term began in the spring of 2015; however, she was prematurely dismissed from her position following her testimony to the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in June 2017.