[2] Foster worked at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service[1] In 1969, while still associated with the Smithsonian Institution[2] she became chair of the biology department at Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross, a position she held into the 1970s.

[1][5][7] As director, she led a reorganization of the NMFS and to make it into a more efficient, responsive, and scientifically rigorous agency and also created the NOAA Habitat Restoration Center and the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank.

[1][5] Upon her death Senator Fritz Hollings published a tribute in the Congressional Record to honor Foster's contributions to marine science.

[1][10] In 2000, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) honored Foster by creating a scholarship program in her name for women and members of minority groups.

[16] The Nancy Foster was originally built as a Navy yard torpedo test craft, Agate Pass (YTT 12), at McDermott Shipyards in Amelia, Louisiana, and launched in September 1990.

[17] In 2001, the Navy transferred the vessel to NOAA, outfitted to conduct coastal research along the United States East and Gulf Coasts and in the Caribbean.