# Miko Wilford

Miko Wilford is a tenured associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts and a tenured associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University with research focused on eyewitness identification, learning and memory, and legal decision-making. She is a P.I. of the Psycho-Legal Experiments and Applications and developed a computer simulation software to study plea decision-making Outside of academia, she is a trial consultant for cases concerning eyewitness misidentification and false guilty pleas

## Education

Before graduating from the doctoral program at Iowa State University, she received her master's and bachelor's degrees at the same university. She graduated magna cum laude with honors with a bachelor of science degree in Psychology and a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Applied Statistics Wilford received her Ph.D. from Iowa State University under the advisement of Gary L. Wells and Jason C.K. Chan.

## Career

Wilford's career started while she attended graduate school at Iowa State University. She consulted on many papers on forensic science and plea bargaining under her advisors. She has previously consulted on trial cases involving false guilty pleas and eyewitness misidentification. Due to her background, she hosted a webinar in 2024 at the UCI Center for Psychology and Law called " Aiming to PLEAS: how the legal system creates offers you cannot refuse". She is currently employed as an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University and the University of Massachusetts. Along with her job as a professor, she is a trial consultant.

## Research

Wilford began conducting research in graduate school under her advisors Gary L. Wells Ph.D. and Jason C.K. Chan Ph.D. She has multiple research studies on false guilty pleas, eyewitness misidentification, plea bargains, and learning and memory. She completed a multi-phase project that helped examine the factors that led to the acceptance of plea bargains from adults and juveniles. This project is her well-known computer simulation software which she received a grant to complete.

## Awards and grants

Wilford has received numerous awards including the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, the Association of Psychology Science Rising Star, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow, American Psychology-Law Dissertation Award, Lloyd Avant Scholars Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Psychology, American Psychology-Law Society Student Section "Legal Research" Award, Graduate College Research Excellence Award, Exceptional Undergraduate Mentoring Award. She received her National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship during her doctoral pursuit.

## Publications

Miko Wilford has previously been published in Law and Human Behavior; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law; Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied; and the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. Before her publications in these journals, she co-published many articles with her advisors, Gary L. Wells Ph.D. and Jason C.K. Chan Ph.D., in journals such as the Journal of Applied Research, the Journal of Eyewitness Identification, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, and the Journal of Memory and Language.

## Current work

Miko Wilford is currently working as an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts and an associate professor at Iowa State University. She created a software simulation that analyzes plea-making decisions. This software is intended for research and educational purposes.