Martha Crenshaw recieved her Bachelor of Arts degree from Newcomb College in 1967. While at Newcomb, she participated in Newcomb's Junior Year Abroad program allowing her to travel to Paris, France, in 1965. She later earned a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. She is the recipient of two prominent fellowships including the National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study at Richardson Institute for Conflict and Peace Research and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Russel Sage Foundation. She is the recipient of the Harry Frang Guggenheim Foundation Research Grants, a Ford Foundation Project Grant, and a Pew Faculty Fellowship. She was one of the pioneers of terrorism studies. Since 2005, she has been a lead investigator with the National Consortium for the Sutdy of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland, funded by the Department of Homeland Security.