Adair studies approaches to evaluate the resilience of transportation systems, agencies, and users through capabilities such as flexibility and adaptive capacity. She has worked on research projects focused on road, bridge, and culvert vulnerability; rail and transit system resilience assessment; and education.

Adair won a grant from the National Center of Sustainable Transportation (NCST) in August 2023 to develop an integrated framework for incorporating resilience and sustainability into rail infrastructure management and another NCST grant in 2024 to quantify adaptive capacity and other resilience capabilities for transportation infrastructure. She is very passionate about planning and asset management, and she hopes to advance rail and transit system resilience throughout her career.