Her areas of expertise and interest include ecology, conservation biology, restoration ecology, management of fragile ecosystems and endangered species, and ecotourism. A Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda, Ransom also spent many years as a field biologist, surveying for and studying a wide array of organisms, from spotted salamanders to northern spotted owls. More recently she has explored the roles of both native and invasive earthworms in the forests of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and in Indiana.