He is best known for his research into how seasonal hormonal shifts change the brain and reproductive behavior of different bird species.

[4] The author of over 200 scholarly publications, Ball's research continues to be supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

[5] Before becoming Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland in 2014, Ball was the Vice Dean for Science and Research Infrastructure in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where he was also faculty in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the director of the undergraduate program in neuroscience, with joint appointments in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Division of Reproductive Biology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and in the Department of Neuroscience at the School of Medicine.

From 2008 to 2010, Ball served as the Dean of Research and Graduate Education in the JHU School of Arts and Sciences.

About the addition of higher education administration to his research portfolio, Ball notes, "Ever since middle school, I’ve wanted to make a living from the life of the mind.