She researches and teaches classes related to the history of religion and politics in the United States and its global context as well as the history of world religions. Her book, A Peaceful Conquest: Woodrow Wilson, Religion, and the New World Order (Chicago University Press, 2016) will be available this fall. A Peaceful Conquest re-narrates the development of Wilsonian internationalism according to changes in the American religious landscape during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. In 2016, the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis selected Cara as a member 2016-2018 cohort of the Young Scholars of American Religion program. She also serves as an editor and contributor for Religion in American History and Religion in the American West.