Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, Cornell University, 2024
  • M.A., Human Development, Cornell University, 2021
  • B.A., Human Biology, University of Kansas, 2018
  • B.A., Psychology, University of Kansas, 2018
  • B.A., Philosophy, University of Kansas, 2018
Academic Appointments
  • Instructor, Psychology and Human Development, Cornell University, 2021-2024
Professional Honors
  • Center for Social Sciences Grant, Cornell University, 2023
  • ISDP Travel Award, International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, 2022
  • Cognitive Science Research Grant, Cornell University, 2022
  • Human Development Fellowship, Cornell University 2021
  • Dean’s Excellence Fellowship, Cornell University, 2018
  • Ronald E. McNair Challenger Award, University of Kansas, 2018
  • Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, 2017
  • Robert Tweed Hersh Award in Human Biology, University of Kansas, 2017
Professional Affiliations
  • Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES)
  • International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP)
  • International Society of Ecological Psychology (ISEP)
  • Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)

Dr. Emma Murrugarra is a cognitive psychologist specializing in human behavior, attention, and perception across the lifespan. She examines how context and experience shape perception, embodiment, and information processing by using advanced methods such as behavioral observations, eye-tracking, wearable sensors, and Virtual Reality (VR) simulations.  She applies her expertise to identify the cognitive mechanisms that drive real‑world performance and safety‑critical decision making.

Dr. Murrugarra has 10 years of experience designing, directing, analyzing, and communicating research in cognitive science. Her recent work includes examining how the demands of parental caregiving shape embodied hazard perception and attention allocation. She takes an ecological approach to the development of research designs, focusing on how unique population experiences, motivational states, and environmental factors influence human behavior. Her findings are used to support improvements to environmental layout, risk mitigation, and product design analysis across a range of transportation, occupational, consumer, and healthcare contexts.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Murrugarra worked as an Instructor of Record and Graduate Research Assistant at Cornell University. There she taught courses in developmental psychology, research methods, and embodied cognition. Dr. Murrugarra has also served as a researcher and project coordinator for the Center for Humanities in Extended Reality at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where she leveraged her expertise in data analysis, grant writing, and research communication to help develop and launch a VR‑based research tool for analyzing human behavior and perception.