Research

Dr. Gold's research examines inequality in organizations and social systems, focusing on how institutional structures, evaluation processes, and knowledge production shape which work is recognized and rewarded. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines computational text analysis, social network analysis, statistical modeling, and qualitative interviews, her work investigates how inequality is produced, and sometimes transformed across domains of science, work, and public-facing institutions. 

Her recent work focuses on equity and organizational change in higher education, particularly in academic STEM fields, where she examines faculty hiring, knowledge dissemination, and the role of institutional interventions in shaping inequality. In a recent article in Sociology of Education, she analyzes how early-career scholars present themselves as engaged researchers in faculty hiring processes, showing that women of color are most likely to signal public-oriented scholarship even as such work remains unevenly rewarded in academic evaluation systems.

In related work across multiple studies of the NSF ADVANCE program, she examines how gender equity initiatives diffuse across institutions, how communities of practice sustain equity work during crises, and how institutional context shapes the integration of equity into organizational response. This work includes publications in innovative Higher Education, a book chapter on institutional crisis response, and a public-facing essay in Contexts that conceptualizes DEI efforts as critical institutional infrastructure.

She has also contributed to a growing body of research on equity practitioners themselves, including a meta-analysis conducted as an ARC Visiting Virtual Scholar, which synthesizes evidence on the roles, challenges, and impacts of equity-focused work in higher education.
Her current work extends this research agenda into the domain of AI and economic inclusion. She is leading and contributing to a large-scale systematic review of the scientific literature on AI and economic inclusion, aiming to synthesize evidence to inform policy and practice across sectors. 

Across these projects, her research centers on a core question: how do institutional structures and cultural frameworks shape whose knowledge, work, and contributions are valued, and with what consequences for inequality?