She conducted research with William Buhro while there, focused on nanotube synthesis by chemical vapor deposition methods.

Skrabalak joined the faculty in the department of chemistry at Indiana University in 2008 and advanced to the rank of full professor in 2017.

Skrabalak served as the 2016 Nanoscience Chair for the Division of Inorganic Chemistry for the American Chemical Society.

Skralabak is particularly well-known for application and development of novel synthetic methods to advance nanomaterials with control of crystal shape.

The synthesized nanomaterials are applied to applications in catalysis, photocatalysis, separations, chemical sensing, and secured electronics.