Halgedahl has a B.A.in applied physics from the University of California, San Diego (1975). She earned her Ph.D. in geological sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1981.https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/ She subsequently worked at ARCO Oil and Gas Company and Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory before moving to the University of Utah in 1993. As of 2021, Halgedahl is an Associate Professor Emerita in the Geology and Geophysics Department at the University of Utah.
