She holds a Masters degree in mathematical finance from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in statistics from Stanford University. Berndt’s research focuses on the theoretical and empirical analysis of different sources of risk: corporate default risk, mortgage delinquency risk and fiscal risk. She has published articles in top-tier journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, Review of Finance, AEJ Macro and Journal of Monetary Economics. Her work has been featured in a number of media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, NPR Marketplace, Reuters, and Bloomberg News. Berndt was the recipient of the Fulbright Enterprise Scholarship, the Moody's research award, the GARP risk management research award and a Q-group research grant. She was awarded the PNC Professorship in Computational Finance for 2007-2010.