Professor Costa holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior (Management) from the University of Utah. Prior to joining McIntire, she developed and taught courses in business management and human resources management at the University of Utah and Toronto Metropolitan University. Before her academic roles, Professor Costa held strategic and analytical positions in the technology and aerospace industries and co-founded and led an e-commerce venture.

Professor Costa’s research has centered on understanding how individuals form judgments in organizational contexts and their impact on workplace diversity and discriminatory behavior. Informed by these insights, she has also investigated ways to enhance decision-making processes with the goal of achieving more equitable workplace outcomes. Her work has been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology; Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes; Collabra: Psychology; and Harvard Business Review.