- Ph.D., Psychology, Penn State University, 2021
- M.S., Psychology, Penn State University, 2018
- B.S., Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 2015
- RGSO Dissertation Award, The Pennsylvania State University, 2020
- NIA Pathways (T32) Training Program Fellow, The Pennsylvania State University, 2017-2019
- Distinguished Scholar Award (Top 2% of class), University of Pittsburgh, 2015
- Online Teaching Certificate, Pennsylvania State University,2019
- 2022-Present Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES)
- 2019-Present Women in Cognitive Science
- 2016-Present Center for Language Science, Pennsylvania State University
- 2018-2021 Gerontological Society of America
- 2017-2021 Society for Neurobiology of Language
- German
Dr. Sara Troutman is a cognitive psychologist with experience in lifespan human cognition including, perception, attention, memory, learning, and language. Her work focuses on how these cognitive abilities relate to behavior in young, middle-aged, and older adults.
Dr. Troutman's expertise enables her to analyze human factors issues in a wide variety of contexts including product warnings and safety information, motor vehicle accidents, failures involving decision making. Dr. Troutman is also involved in proactive research, bringing her expertise to literature reviews, surveys, and user studies which seek to understand how humans across the lifespan interact with novel technologies and products.
Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Troutman completed a Ph.D. in psychology at The Pennsylvania State University and has published works on the neurobiological factors contributing to language ability and the link between physical and cognitive performance. Her dissertation work on the link between neural structural connections and language earned her the prestigious Research and Graduate Student Office (RGSO) Dissertation Award. Dr. Troutman also completed a two-year training fellowship from the National Institutes of Aging (NIA-T32) during which time she studied the relationship between cognition and everyday function, driving, and wellbeing.