Heather Schell's research and teaching draw on her research background in literature and history of science, as well as her work experience in a multidisciplinary team studying health behavior. She teaches courses on academic writing, popular culture, and scientific controversy. Her assignments emphasize interdisciplinary writing and numeracy, with a focus on the social sciences; for a number of years, she co-taught a WID course with a nuclear physicist. Her current book project offers a mixed-method cross-cultural examination of romance narratives in the US and Turkey. The project includes a survey of 371 Turkish Harlequin romance readers; interviews with romance writers, editors, and translators; back-translation of Turkish-language Harlequins; and literary analysis of romance texts—novels, soap operas, paintings, and graphic novels—in English and Turkish. She serves as the co-chair of the Romance Area at the Popular Culture Association.