McFadden was born in New York City in 1952. Her studies culminated in a bachelor's degree from Hampshire College (1974), Master's in earth and planetary science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1977), and a Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from the University of Hawaii (1983) with the dissertation Spectral reflectance of near-Earth asteroids : implications for composition, origin and evolution. She has held positions at the University of Maryland, College Park, California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego, and Space Telescope Science Institute. At NASA, McFadden has been an investigator for the Dawn mission to 4 Vesta and Ceres; and the Deep Impact and EPOXI programs. She has been a science team member for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission; a member