Mathematica Policy Research. Her research takes a demographic approach to the study of social stratification. Much of her work focuses on the work-family intersection. She has published (with Margaret Gough) several articles on the ways in which earnings and employment shape women’s time in household labor. Her current research in this area explores the effect of marriage and parenthood on workers’ wages.

Another area of her research examines the influence of parental wealth on adult outcomes, including the role of parental wealth in explaining the Black-White wealth gap. She has also written (with Kerwin Charles and Erik Hurst) on assortative mating by parental wealth.

She is also the author (with Yu Xie) of Is American Science in Decline?(2012), which documents trends in the size of the American scientific workforce, public attitudes toward science, youth interest in science, the production of scientific degrees, and transitions to scientific employment, in addition to evaluating the position of American science on the international scene.