McLaughlin's main research interests involve studying neutron stars and their environments through radio, X-ray and gamma-ray observations. Neutron stars are amazing physical laboratories for general relativity, studies of the interstellar medium, high-energy particle and plasma physics, and studies of stellar evolution. A significant research aim as a member of the NANOGrav collaboration, is to use neutron stars to detect gravitational waves through timing an array of ultra-precise millisecond pulsars. She served as chair and co-director of the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center and is also PI on an NSF IRES award which provides students with research experience through the International Pulsar Timing Array collaboration. Her work with the Pulsar Search Collaboratory involves West Virginia high school students in her research. She has been awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for her work.

Education:
B.S. Pennsylvania State University, 1994
Ph.D. Cornell University, 2001