[2] Rawson's academic background is in Sinology with a particular research focus on the cosmology of the Han period (206 BC-AD 220) and its relation to tombs and their decoration.
[3] Rawson contributed with Evelyn S. Rawski and other scholars to the catalogue of China: The Three Emperors by Frances Wood.
This project explored relations between Ancient China and peoples of the Eurasian Steppes, particularly to the north and north-west.
[8] In 2012, Rawson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a Foreign Honorary Member.
[9] In May 2017 she was awarded the Charles Lang Freer Medal in recognition of her lifetime's contribution to the study of Chinese art and archaeology.