[4][5] Though she started out as a business major, she switched to physics after learning that everyday occurrences like thin-film interference (why rainbows appear on soap bubbles and oily puddles) could be described mathematically.

After graduating with her bachelor's degree in physics, she pursued a doctorate in astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

She now works closely with team members at Ames Research Center to identify viable planets from the data of the Kepler mission.

Following the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2021, Batalha and a team of researchers found unambiguous evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet.

[12] Batalha and the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Early Release Science Team used the James Webb Space Telescope in 2023 to identify water vapor in the atmosphere of WASP-18b and make a temperature map of the planet as it slipped behind, and reappeared from, its star.

[14][15] In 2011, Batalha was awarded NASA's Exceptional Public Service Medal for outstanding leadership of the Kepler Science Team.