Goodman is Director of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, an NSF Science and Technology Center, which began operation in August, 2010. The center conducts multidisciplinary research on evolution going on in the lab and field, in "digital organisms" in the computer, and in evolutionary computation applied to solution of problems in engineering and computer science. Goodman's personal research centers on evolutionary computation, particularly heterogeneous and parallel genetic algorithms and genetic programming. He is a founder of Red Cedar Technology, Inc., which writes and supports design automation and optimization software for industry. He is also involved in information and communications technology research and outreach in Africa.