Her research interests include Victorian literature and culture, gender studies, readership history, and the novel. Her published work has appeared in such journals as the Victorian Review, Nineteenth-Century Studies, and the Victorians Institute Journal. Along with Shalyn Claggett (Mississippi State), she is editor of the collection Strange Science: Investigating the Limits of Knowledge in the Victorian Age forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press. Karpenko also has a research interest in the field of Teaching and Learning and has co-written an article with Lauri Dietz (DePaul University) that appeared in the Journal of Effective Teaching.