Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Pyschology, Colorado State University, 2020
  • B.A., German, University of Nebraska, 2012
  • B.S., Neuroscience, University of Nebraska, 2012
Licenses & Certifications
  • Certified English XL Tribometrist (CXLT)
Academic Appointments
  • Instructor, Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, 2015-2020
Professional Honors
  • Regents Scholarship, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2007
  • Outstanding German Major, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2012
  • Legacy of the Wishing Chair-Stout/Baird Memorial Scholarship, Colorado State University, 2017
Professional Affiliations
  • Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES)

Dr. Becker applies her expertise and extensive training in cognitive, perceptual, and physical human factors issues to the analysis of accidents examining the effect of attention on human performance, human information processing, and decision-making in various contexts. This includes motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents, accidents involving micromobility devices, slips/trips and falls, product useability, and risk and warning communication.

Additionally, Dr. Becker applies this knowledge to explain how vision, attention, conspicuity and human behavior contribute to accidents involving pedestrians, scooters, bicycles, motorcycles, passenger vehicles, golf carts, semi-trucks, and commercial products. Dr. Becker has also supported multiple user studies examining the usability of wearable devices. In this role she managed and conducted multi-site focus groups to quantitatively and qualitatively measure how consumers interpret, assess, and feel about a product.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Becker completed her Ph.D. in psychology at Colorado State University and two post-doctoral fellowships at McGill University and Colorado State University. During her time at McGill University, she focused her research on the cognitive neuroscience underlying human information processing, the brain mechanisms underlying speech comprehension, working memory, and decision making, and their behavioral manifestations after short-term hearing aid use in older adults with age-related hearing loss. In her research, she used a variety of experimental methods (behavioral, neuroimaging) and statistical analyses to explore the interactions between age, hearing augmentation, memory, and attention underlying comprehending speech under challenging listening conditions.

During her post-doctoral work at Colorado State University, Dr. Becker worked with the National Institute of Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) creating extensive literature reviews and making experimental recommendations for several cognitive-perceptual tasks included in RDoC's research framework. These reviews aided in the design and development of computerized adaptive tests which target and examine specific psychological constructs.