Background
Dr. Paulina Silva is a human factors consultant with a unique combination of statistical skills and experience in science communication, which have made her a valuable contributor to a variety of human factors projects. Dr. Silva conducts comprehensive risk analyses for a wide variety of product types and assists in matters relating to risk perception, hazard communications, safety and human development, human perception-response time, and decision making.
Dr. Silva uses her expertise in statistics and cognitive science research to understand trends in federal standards and national injury databases and to apply findings from cognitive psychology and related fields to real-world situations. Dr. Silva’s recent consulting and forensic projects have involved diverse products such as consumer electronics, professional products, and heavy machinery. She has conducted investigations into human behavior in workplace, public roadway, and railway settings.
Prior to joining Rimkus (formerly Huntley-Fenner Advisors, Inc.), Dr. Silva earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine in 2023. Her doctoral research focused on how people change their beliefs in response to committing errors. She also studied why people often struggle to understand statistical information. Dr. Silva co-led a graduate seminar focusing on science communication, which gave her extensive experience in communicating complex scientific topics to broad audiences.
Dr. Silva is familiar with a multitude of software systems for research and analysis, including R/RStudio, SPSS, Stata, and JASP statistical analysis software. She also has experience with standard statistical methods (e.g., t-tests, ANOVA, regression) and advanced statistical methods (e.g., Bayesian methods, model comparison, Markov processes for sequential data, Fourier transforms).
Education and Certifications
- CITI Program in Human Subjects Research
- Cognitive Science, Ph.D.: University of California – Irvine (2023)
- Cognitive Science, M.Sc.: University of California – Irvine (2021)
- Psychology, B.A.: University of Redlands (2017)
Associations and Memberships
- Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
- Cognitive Science Society
- American Psychological Association
- Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Provider
- Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education
Publications
- Silva, P.N., and Sarnecka, B. W. (2025). “What do your students struggle with? A survey of statistics instructors.” Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 1–20.
- J., Silva, P. N., Etz, A., and Sarnecka, B.W. (2024). “Bayesian Tools of the Trade for Developmental Psychologists: A Quick-Start Guide Using JASP,” Journal of Cognition and Development, 26(1), 1-49.
- Silva, P. N. and Liljeholm, M. (2023). “Inverse hypercorrection of metacognitive errors.” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 45.
- Silva, P. N. (2023). “Confidence, Correcting Metacognitive Errors, and Applications in Higher Education” (Dissertation).
- Sarnecka, B. W., Silva, P. N., Coon, J., Vickers, D. C., Goldstein, R. B., and Rouder, J. N. (2021). “Doctoral writing workshops: A randomized controlled trial.” Innovative Higher Education, 47, 155-174.
- Silva, P. N., Liljeholm, M., and Sarnecka, B. W. “What statistics instructors think students should know.” Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics. May 23-26, 2022.
- Silva, P. N. “The writing workshop: Tips, tricks and tools.” Writing Tips and Support for Graduate Scholars hosted by UCI Graduate Division, Irvine, CA. February 24, 2022.
- Silva, P. N., Liljeholm, M., and Sarnecka, B. W. “What statistics instructors think students should know.” Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics. May 23-26, 2022.
- Silva, F. J., Silva, P. N., and Silva, K. M. (2021). “Judging numbers: Global and local contextual effects in individual and group data.” The Psychological Record, 72(2), 285-304.
- Silva, P. N. “Using interleaved practice to teach statistics” (Conference presentation). United States Conference on Teaching Statistics, Virtual Conference. June 28 – July 1, 2021.
- Silva, P. N. “Using interleaved practice to teach statistics” (Symposium presentation). Associated Graduate Students UCI Virtual Symposium. April 24, 2021.