Her graduate research was on the control of thin film deposition under the direction of Professors Richard Murray, David Goodwin, and Harry Atwater, and was supported by an NSF Graduate Fellowship. Professor Gallivan was the recipient of an NSF CAREER award in 2004, which supports computational and experimental research in chemical vapor deposition of metal oxide films for control of film microstructure. Her overall research program is on optimization and control of molecular-scale structure using self assembly with applications in inorganic crystalline films, polymer structure, and nanowire assembly.