Schadler joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1996 and is the Russell Sage Professor in Materials Science and Engineering and the associate dean of academic affairs in the School of Engineering. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in materials science and engineering and received a Ph.D. in the same from the University of Pennsylvania. After two years of post-doctoral work at IBM Yorktown Heights, Schadler served as a faculty member at Drexel University in Philadelphia before moving to RPI.

Schadler has co-authored more than 140 journal publications, several book chapters, and one book. She received a National Science Foundation (NSF) National Young Investigator award in 1994 and the ASM International Bradley Staughton Award for Teaching in 1997. She received a Dow Outstanding New Faculty member award from the American Society of Engineering Education and is an ASM International Fellow. A member of ASM International’s Board of Trustees and former member of the National Materials Advisory Board, Schadler also was the education and outreach coordinator for the NSF’s "Directed Assembly of Nanostructures" center, headquartered at Rensselaer.