Falk is a Johns Hopkins alumnus, having earned his bachelor's degree in physics and master's degree in computer science before moving to the University of California - Santa Barbara, where he completed his Ph.D. in physics in 1998. After leaving UCSB, Falk was a post-doctoral scholar at Harvard prior to joining the faculty in materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan in 2000. At Michigan, Falk received an NSF CAREER award as well as several awards for teaching and mentoring. He joined the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering in 2008.