Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, 1994
  • M.S., Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, 1991
  • B.S., Engineering Mechanics, Michigan State University, 1989
Licenses & Certifications
  • Certified Abbreviated Injury Scale Specialist (CAISS)
  • Certified Pistol Instructor
  • High Master Classification, High Power Rifle Competition
  • IDPA Safety Officer Certification
Additional Education & Training
  • Forensic Shooting Incident Reconstruction Course
  • Certified IDPA Safety Officer
  • Blood Detection, Documentation & Collection Techniques
Professional Honors
  • Department of the Army, Commander's Award for Public Service
  • International Society of Biomechanics Promising Scientist Award
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow
  • MSU Alumni Distinguished Scholar
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
  • Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), Scientific Program Committee
  • International Ballistics Society, Senior Member

Dr. Courtney provides technical expertise in the area of injury biomechanics, including orthopaedic, spine, and traumatic brain injury, blast injury, and ballistics. She addresses issues related to traumatic events, motor vehicle safety, and product safety. Dr. Courtney's ballistics expertise includes the safe operation of small arms and the internal physics, trajectories, and terminal behavior of ammunition. She has been active in research on the material and structural properties of musculoskeletal tissues in normal, aging, and disease conditions for 35 years. 

In addition to her engineering training and expertise, her doctoral studies in the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology included medical coursework and clinical training at Harvard Medical School. She is also a certified Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) specialist. Her research is documented in more than 75 publications in the medical and scientific literature.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Courtney was a researcher in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Orthopedic Biomechanics Laboratory of Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She also held an appointment as Assistant Professor teaching physics at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Dr. Courtney has designed and conducted laboratory-based and field-based experiments, human subject testing, and testing with Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs, or crash test dummies) for basic scientific purposes as well as to investigate specific situations. She has provided scientific consultation in the areas of injury mechanisms and injury tolerance, experimental design, techniques for data collection and analysis, and prototype evaluation. Her work includes novel experiments and mathematical modeling of internal, external, and terminal ballistics of small arms. She collaborated in the invention and characterization of novel experimental tools and techniques for laboratory-based blast experiments.