Canuel has a B.S. in Chemistry from Stonehill College (1981) and earned her Ph.D.in Marine Science (1992) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following her Ph.D. she was a postdoctoral researcher at the United States Geological Survey until 1994 when she joined the faculty at the College of William & Mary. She was promoted to professor in 2006, and named Chancellor Professor in 2018.
From 2018 until 2020 Canuel was a program officer at the National Science Foundation, and she returned there in 2021.