Chandrasekhar earned her BSc degree in physics and mathematics from MGM College, Mysore University in 1968, master's degrees in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras in 1970 and Brown University in 1973.

She earned a PhD in physics from Brown University in 1976. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Max-Planck-Institut in Germany, she joined the University of Missouri faculty in 1978.

Chandrasekhar's teaching and research has been recognized with many honours, including the 2006 President's Award for Outstanding Teaching from the University of Missouri.

She was honoured in 2002 with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology. She received an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 1985 and was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1992.

She also received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the National Science Foundation in 1998.

Chandrasekhar visited the Baylor campus in October 2013 to present her Cherry finalist lecture on "Blind to Polarization: What Humans Cannot See."

In that public lecture, she took students, faculty and staff on a hands-on journey that explored polarization by using natural phenomena as well as modern-day applications, ranging from 3D movies to engineering design.
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