Her research is situated at the intersection of economic sociology, the sociology of knowledge and science & technology studies, and it focuses on recent U.S. history (1960s to 1980s) and emphasizes the role of public policy. Berman is the author or Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine (Princeton University Press, 2012), and she is currently working on a book project entitled, Thinking Like an Economist: How Economics Became the Language of U.S. Public Policy (Princeton University Press, under contract).