After completing her PhD in sociology at the University of Virginia in 2004, Dr. Johnson worked for the U.S. federal government doing methodological development in the area of social network analysis. For this work, she won the prestigious Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Civilian Service Award. Her current academic research is focused on utilizing social network analysis to map the political economy of the pornography industry. Other areas of academic work include non-profit organizational networks, criminal networks and measuring the impact of the family form on social capital outcomes including peer networks.