Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana. She got a degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering elementary school. She moved to America and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in the 1990s. She earned a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas. She got her doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1993. She began flying with people for NASA at the Ames Research the same year.