Dr. Becker received a M.A. in Human Development from the University of Kansas and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After doing a post-doc at University of Michigan with Terry E. Robinson, she joined the UM faculty in 1987.
Dr. Becker is the Patricia Y. Gurin Collegiate Professor of Psychology, Research Professor in Psychiatry and the Michigan Neuroscience Institute, and is a Senior Neuroscience Scholar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Becker is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biology of Sex Differences and the author of over 160 articles or chapters and has had numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Becker’s research of the last 30 years investigates the developmental and neural mechanisms underlying sex differences in release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, and how this is important for motivated behaviors in the laboratory rat. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the University of Michigan, the Bernice Grafstein Award for Mentoring from the Society for Neuroscience and the Health Education Visionary Award from the Society for Women’s Health Research.