Heather is an economic and environmental anthropologist. She has managed a range of projects spanning topics such as household finances, natural resource economics, and various issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Using her background as a qualitative researcher examining processes of inequality impacting marginalized groups, Heather has designed and implemented a variety of qualitative studies. She has also used her training to enhance data quality on survey research projects. 

On the Survey of Consumer Finances, Heather has served as lead of data quality since 2019. As part of this work, she designed and implemented culturally responsive training modules for field interviewers, focusing on issues such as household diversity. Expanding on this work, Heather led a corporate strategic investment in 2023 to produce field interviewer trainings in culturally responsive research that were more broadly applicable, including issues such as implicit bias, environmental racism, and community disinvestment.  

For the 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife Associated Recreation, Heather led cognitive testing of this longitudinal survey, generating key insights to modernize the survey instrument to reflect contemporary engagements with wildlife (such as the growing use of cell phones for wildlife photography).

Prior to joining NORC, Heather designed and conducted original research in the U.S. and Latin America regarding socio-cultural elements of economic development, including work on the informal economy, race and ethnicity, tourism, the construction of childhood, barriers to entrepreneurship, workplace safety, violence, migration, climate change, and identity.