As Director of the Econometrics Research Group, Doug Steigerwald oversees a broad portfolio of research. The group encompasses Ph.D. students from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and the Department of Geography, as well as from the Department of Economics. Group member topics include exploring the impact of alternative legal frameworks on economic development on American Indian reservations; analyzing changing partisanship in California's electoral districts; measuring the impact of conservation banking on land use; and developing new tools for assessing the market power of firms.

Doug has figured in many of the Economic Department's recent program innovations. As Director of Graduate Studies (2005- 2007), he redesigned the recruitment process, raising $650,000 in fellowship funding from donors and creating a model that has been emulated by the UCSB Graduate Division. As Director of the Department's AEA Summer Training Program, he oversaw the transition of the program from Duke University, hiring new faculty and implementing a new course structure. Several elements of the Summer Training Program have been introduced into Departmental graduate courses, and the Department's graduate student body has become more diverse due to the enrollment of several Program alumni.

As Chair of the National Science Foundation's Graduate Fellowship Panel in Economics, Doug oversees distribution of nearly 50 fellowships annually. In 2009 he was the only panel chair selected to serve on the NSF's Committee of Visitors, which provides an external review of the entire Fellowship program.