Dr. Ramirez conducts cross-national studies on the role of education in the formation of world society and the influence of world society on educational developments. These studies include topics such as patterns of women's access to higher education, the role of education and science in economic development, the interrelationships among education, citizenship, and human rights, and the impact of globalization on universities. Grants from the National Science Foundation (Sociology Program), the Spencer Foundation, and the Bechtel Initiative on Global Growth and Change have supported both research on education, science, and development and studies of the globalization of human rights and the challenge of human rights education. Ramirez has been a recipient of a Spencer Foundation Mentor Network award and a Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Studies of the Behaviroal Sciences (2006-07).

Recent honors include election into the Sociological Research Assocation (2016) and Honorary Fellow iin the Comparative and International Educaiton Society (2018). In the fall of 2017 Ramirez will be a fellow at the Scandinivian Center for Advanced Studies in Sweden.