She also holds a courtesy appointment with the Department of Sociology. Simmons' research and teaching are motivated by an interest in contentious politics, particularly in Latin America, and qualitative methods. Simmons received an AB from Harvard College (1999) and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (2012). Her recent book, Meaningful Resistance: Market Reforms and the Roots of Social Protest in Latin America (Cambridge University Press 2016) tackles questions of resistance to the marketization of subsistence in Latin America.