Lawrence-Lightfoot has pioneered portraiture, an approach to social science methodology that bridges the realms of aesthetics and empiricism, which she continues to use in her own work.
[1] She has written 10 books, including I've Known Rivers, which explores the development of creativity and wisdom using the lens of "human archaeology," The Art and Science of Portraiture, which documents her pioneering approach to social science methodology, and The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50 (2009).
Her most recent book, Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free, was a non-fiction nominee for the 2013 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.
[4] In 1993, received Harvard's George Ledlie Prize for research that makes the "most valuable contribution to science" and "the benefit of mankind.
Lawrence-Lightfoot's mother, Dr. Margaret Morgan Lawrence, was the only African-American undergraduate student at Cornell, where she received a full scholarship to attend.