She earned her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin prior to her position at Texas State. Her primary research areas are child maltreatment, child welfare and foster care services, domestic violence, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), and evidence-based policy. Dr. Lawson also has a practice background as a Child Protective Services caseworker and supervisor in Dallas County.