Her Ph.D. thesis, entitled The Effects of Positive and Negative Moods on the Cheering Up Process in Close Relationships, received the Dissertation Award in 1989 from the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR).
Her community engaged research has focused on 1) delivering and evaluating the impact of healthy relationship interventions, such as Love Notes, on positive youth development among Black and African American youth, youth involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems as well as immigrant and refugee youth, and 2) implementing and evaluating numerous organizational, workforce and practice interventions to improve outcomes, particularly reducing racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare agencies across the nation.
She has also been a named consultant on $55 million worth of other grants and contracts to partner organizations.
She has been funded by the federal agencies of the Department for Health and Human Services (DHHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Children's Bureau (directly and via pass through funds through the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services), Child Care Bureau, and Family and Youth Services Bureaus, the DHHS Office of Community Services, Office of Adolescent Health, the Office of Population Affairs, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Section, Office of Family Assistance, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Systems Administration (SAMHSA) as well as Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) funds.
She has also received funds directly or indirectly through partners from Prevent Child Abuse America, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children's Alliance Trust Fund, Harvard University Kennedy School, Ash Institute for Governmental Innovation, Healthy Kentucky Foundation among other entities.