 Anderson's doctoral research addressed the impacts and outcomes of land use policy for forest management in the Peruvian Amazon.In between her Masters and PhD work, Anderson spent time at the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, a conservation non profit, in Kenya and worked as a Junior Associate at the World Bank's Urban Development and Local Government Unit.In her 2019 Science publication, "Natural climate solutions are not enough", Anderson advocates for climate policy that includes, not only natural climate solutions like reforestation, but also aggressive climate mitigation efforts across all energy sectors, such as coal, oil and gas.