Distinguished Professorship of Physics at Syracuse University, where she was the director of the Soft and Living Matter program,[2] and chaired the department 2007–2010.

[5] She leads the journal with Jean-Michel Raimond, a professor of physics at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France.

[11] Her research focuses on understanding the structure, phase transitions and rheology of suspensions and gels made of active matter systems like self-propelled particles,[12] biological filaments[13] and biological cells.

[14] Marchetti is particularly interested in understanding the behavior of cell colonies that grow in confined geometries such as those found in animal and human tissues.

[15][16][17][18] The bulk mechanical properties of these colonies can reveal how the cells in the tissues interact, a problem Marchetti studies theoretically.