Before coming to Samford University, Emily McCarty taught various ethics and philosophy courses, such as global ethics, love and evil and introduction to philosophy at Hope College (2022-2023) and Saint Louis University (2019-2022). McCarty's research interests lie at the intersection of philosophy of religion and ethics, where she considers questions such as Does God have obligations to human persons? And What is the nature of God's love? Much of her research centers on the problem of evil, which raises the following challenge to theism: how can a good God allow evil? McCarty also enjoys discussing the philosophy of religion in a non-academic setting. She has appeared on the podcast Agnostish to discuss the problem of evil and has engaged with high school students in various contexts about this same apologetic question. McCarty spends time outdoors in her spare time, listening to true crime podcasts or grabbing coffee with a good friend.