Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Psychology, University of Oregon, 2013
  • M.S., Psychology, University of Oregon, 2009
  • B.A., Psychology, University of Iowa, 2007
Licenses & Certifications
  • Certified English XL Tribometrist (CXLT)
Professional Honors
  • Post-doctoral Research Scholar, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, 2013-2015
  • Graduate Fellowship, Institute of Neuroscience: Systems Physiology Training Program #5 (T32 GM007257-33), National Institutes of Health, 2009-2010
Professional Affiliations
  • Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
  • The Psychonomic Society

Dr. Lester is a cognitive psychologist with expertise in memory, perception, visibility, attention, and information processing. He applies this knowledge to analyses of accidents and injuries, safety, and consumer decision making.   

These investigations include pedestrian behavior, transportation and driver behavior, industrial equipment, micromobility platforms, vehicle safety technologies, medical devices, and consumer products. In addition, Dr. Lester performs quantitative injury and risk analyses using large-scale incident and injury data from various sources, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), as well as the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA) Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE).

Dr. Lester's consulting in product liability has focused on an approach to class action litigation, in which consumer decision-making processes are examined through the cognitive mechanisms that drive consumers to make purchase decisions in the marketplace. Dr. Lester has applied this method to matters related to  automobiles, financial services, agricultural products, food and beverage, cosmetics, tools and hardware, and cleaning products.

Dr. Lester also conducts human-subject testing to assess product use and to gather user opinions for various products in an automotive environment. He incorporates elements of experimental design, state-of-the-art data acquisition and analysis techniques, psychophysics, questionnaires, and observational techniques to conduct comprehensive evaluations of automotive environments and vehicle technologies. This includes research on behalf of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Lester completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, where he studied visual perception, attention, and spatial processing. Following graduate school, he completed post-doctoral training at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, in the Division of Neuroergonomics in the Department of Neurology, where he studied aging, vision and attention, and driver behavior in simulated and naturalistic environments.