Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Neuroscience, Georgetown University, 2019
  • B.A., International Development, University of Virginia, 2009
Professional Affiliations
  • 2022-2023, International Mind, Brain, and Education Society, Member
  • 2021-2023, Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity, Executive Committee Member
  • 2019-2023, National Postdoctoral Association, Member
  • 2014-2019, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Member
  • 2016-2019, Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Member
  • 2018-2019, Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Member

Dr. Michaelis specializes in the study of human behavior and cognition. Her work has focused on the cognitive and physiological bases of executive function (attention, task-switching, vigilance, inhibition), creativity, verbal and spatial reasoning, and speech and language processing. She uses this extensive research experience to address questions related to human factors, driver distraction and driver behavior, human-machine interfaces, and human performance. Dr. Michaelis has extensive experience with study development and experimental design, as well as the collection and analysis of human subjects' data. Dr. Michaelis' work has been recognized by the National Science Foundation, the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, and the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society.

Dr. Michaelis also has experience using virtual reality-based tasks to examine how humans process spatial distance and time when evaluating rewards. At Exponent, Dr. Michaelis utilizes her skillset to assess human factors in a wide range of transportation accidents and injuries, including those involving advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). She has also participated in the planning and execution of experimental studies evaluating the risk and safety of in-vehicle technologies.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Michaelis graduated from Georgetown University with a Ph.D. in neuroscience and served as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institutes of Health. Her work used behavioral experiments and neuroimaging to investigate a variety of complex human behaviors and their underlying neural networks.