Powell is currently Principal Investigator (PI) of a four-year Institute of Education Sciences efficacy grant related to word problems and equation solving for third-grade students with mathematics difficulties. Powell is also PI of a five-year early numeracy and literacy read-alouds project funded by the T.L.L. Temple Foundation and co-PI of a National Science Foundation grant aimed at developing a science intervention for second-grade students with learning difficulties. Powell was a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow from 2014 to 2016, and she is currently a Faculty Fellow with the Greater Texas Foundation. Powell's research interests include developing and testing interventions for students with mathematics difficulties, with a special emphasis on peer tutoring, word-problem solving, mathematics writing, and the symbols and vocabulary within mathematics.