Kimberly Culley, Ph.D.

Prior to joining Aperture LLC at the end of September 2025, Dr. Kimberly Culley was employed by the Federal Government as the Chief Human Factors Engineer for the United States Navy, Submarine Force. She spent over ten years operationalizing Human Factors in submarine tactical guidance and training scenarios, participating in the development of the Submarine Force and Navy-wide Safety Management Systems, and implementing and leading a Causal Factors and Root Cause analysis program for the Submarine Force that was adopted by Navy Surface and Aviation communities. She served as the Human Factors Subject Matter Expert in forensic investigations of high-profile incidents including the USS Fitzgerald and MV ACX Crystal collision, USS John S McCain and Alnic MC collision, USS Connecticut collision with a seamount, Navy-wide physiological episode reviews, Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) collision, and Strategic Weapons System adverse events, with a heightened focus on cultural and systemic issues contributing to risk and event evolution.

Dr. Culley also has experience as a Continuous Improvement and Performance Excellence consultant providing technical and scientific services to evaluate and strengthen organizational systems operating in complex, high-hazard environments, including National Nuclear Security Administration operations at national security sites. Her work in this area has focused on identifying latent organizational conditions—such as cultural norms, weak feedback mechanisms, and ineffective risk visibility—that degrade system resilience and increase the likelihood of adverse outcomes. She supported event investigation and issues-management processes to ensure that corrective actions addressed contributory systemic factors, thereby maximizing learning, strengthening safety defenses, and producing observable and sustained behavioral change at the individual and organization levels.

Dr. Culley has a Ph.D. in Human Factors and is a Certified Human Factors Professional, credentialed through the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics (BCPE #2206; credentialed 2018 – present) and a Certified Systems Engineering Professional, credentialed through the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE #06741, credentialed 2020 - present). She earned a Certificate of Advanced Level Training in NTSB Cognitive Interviewing for Accident Investigators, US Coast Guard Crew Endurance Management Systems Expert Certification, and US Navy Problem Solving Practitioner Certification. She was conferred the Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Aware in both 2021 and 2025, and the Secretary of the Navy Safety Excellence Award in 2019. She completed OSHA 30 Hour General Industry Safety and Health and EPA 24 Hour HAZWOPER, as well as multiple Public Health and FEMA Emergency Management courses, OSHA and Industrial/Workplace Safety courses, and Pedestrian, Motorcycle, Bicycle, and Roadway Safety and Design Principles courses.

During her doctoral training, Dr. Culley conducted and published research regarding how time pressure, target object ambiguity, uncertainty, and visual location shape decision strategies in high-stakes detection tasks, as well as developed a behavioral method to differentiate optimizing vs. satisficing strategies in decision making. During this time she also served as an Instructor of Record in the Psychology Department teaching undergraduate courses for four semesters. She has authored or co-authored over thirty publications in an academic textbook; Navy Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures doctrinal publications; classified Department of the Navy reports; and peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, which have been cited over 180 times.