Dr. Olson earned a doctorate in human development and family studies at Utah State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology at BYU-Idaho. She has many years of professional experience working at organizations that support young children and their families, including working as an assistant teacher at a school for children with autism and working as the program evaluation manager at a rural family support. Dr. Olson has experience conducting research on developmentally supportive caregiver-child interactions, early sibling interactions, home visiting best-practices, and observational measures. She also has experience coaching and training early childhood practitioners in the use of the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations (PICCOLO) and the Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS) tools. Dr. Olson has presented her work at national and international research conferences and meetings.