Sandra L. Calvert's research activities involve the impact of information technologies such as television and computers on children's attention, comprehension, and social behavior. She has served on two committees for the National Academy of Sciences, one involving how to protect youth from online pornography and most recently one involving the role of food marketing on children's diet and health.

Professor Calvert's current research at the Children's Digital Media Center is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Stuart Family Foundation. With her colleagues and students, she is examining the influences of identity and interactivity on children's learning from entertainment technologies, how very young children learn to read "screen" media, and how to use interactive media to reduce the childhood obesity epidemic.(see http://cdmc.georgetown.edu).