Dr. Waity’s research focuses on poverty, food insecurity and spatial inequality. She has presented her work at the American Sociological Association, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the Southern Sociological Society, and the Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Conference. She has received funding for her research from Indiana University, where she earned her Ph.D., the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and the Southern Rural Development Center RIDGE Center for Targeted Studies. Her current research examines food access, including access to grocery stores and food assistance agencies, and accompanying rural-urban differences. Dr. Waity has experience teaching courses related to her research interests, including Sociology of Poverty, Social Problems, Public Sociology, The Community, and Introduction to Sociology.