Plotkin's research uses multiwavelength space- and ground-based observations to study a wide variety of phenomena related to accreting black holes, over the full range of black hole masses and accretion rates. Main research goals include better understanding the structure/geometry of accretion flows and outflows in different accretion regimes, in order to more effectively use radiation as a probe of Galactic and extragalactic black hole populations, and to learn how black holes may impact their large-scale environments.