While she studied there, she worked at the Sproul Observatory. After this she went on to receive her PhD in the same field at the University of Chicago in 1949. She stayed at the university for six more years working at the Yerkes Observatory, sometimes traveling to the McDonald Observatory in Texas to work as a research associate with W.W. Morgan.[4] The research position was not permanent, so Roman became an instructor and later an assistant professor.[2] Roman eventually left her job at the university because of the paucity of tenured research positions available to women at the time.[3] Roman continued to be involved with her alma maters, however; she served on Swarthmore's Board of Observers from 1980 to 1988.[5]