Smith-Heisters is an interdisciplinary researcher affiliated with Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions at Arizona State University (ASU). At ASU, she trained in multi-method qualitative institutional analysis in the tradition of the Ostrom Workshop. Her research supports collaboration, decision making, and organizational learning through assessment of formal policy interventions and informal norms- and rules-based adaptive behaviors in complex governance systems. Current areas of interest include institutionalization of knowledge within organizations, organizational diversity, and public entrepreneurship. In addition to extensive evaluation work co-produced with public agencies, Smith-Heisters has facilitated private sector research on topics ranging from the world's longest-enduring organizations to Fortune 500 companies. In her doctoral research, Smith-Heisters investigated operational decision making in large-scale irrigation infrastructure systems.