Professor Vallor's research areas of expertise are the ethics and philosophy of technology,  the philosophy of science, and applied virtue ethics. Her current research project focuses on the impact of emerging technologies, particularly those involving artificial intelligence and robotics, on the moral and intellectual habits, skills and virtues of human beings. She is a past President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, and from 2018-2020 served as a Visiting Researcher and AI Ethicist at Google.

Her work has appeared in the journals Philosophy and Technology, Ethics and Information Technology, Techne, Inquiry, and Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, as well as a 2016 monograph from Oxford University Press: Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting. She is the editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology.

Professor Vallor has a special interest in the integration of ethics with industry and engineering/computer science education, and engages in public outreach on this subject with a range of stakeholders inside and outside academia, including government, industry, law, media, and public policy professionals and advocates. Recent professional honors include the World Technology Award in Ethics (2015), SCU's Brutocao Award for Teaching Excellence (2015), and the Public Intellectual Award from the SCU College of Arts and Sciences (2017).