She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California, specializing in learning, instruction, achievement motivation, assessment, evaluation and research methods. She has served as a Benchmarker and Lead Assessor Trainer for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and as a Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation team member. Her most recent research involves evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of instructional design based on cognitive workload and performance measures. She has published a guide to developing a self-management study.