The focus of Sara Maxwell's work is in the relationship between trees and humans. She is conducting her current project at the University of Tennessee with Supervisors Adam Taylor and Neelam Poudyal, in addition to a research team at the United States Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, on the carbon impact of forest products, for those interested in the role these products play in the climate and in the economy.

In addition to her UTIA/FPL work, Sara Maxwell continues an ongoing research project investigating the political economy of the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, with a particular focus on social reproduction and this Native American community's access to natural resources.