Galvin is the director of the Division of Materials Research in the National Science Foundation (NSF). She earned her Sc.D. in Polymers/Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984 and previously held positions as a distinguished member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories and as a distinguished professor of materials science at the University of Delaware. Prior to joining NSF, she was a member of the Technology Leadership Team at Air Products and a program manager in basic energy sciences (BES) at the Department of Energy. Galvin is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Materials Research Society, and is a Fellow in the American Physical Society.