Harper was born and raised in Frankfort, Kentucky. She completed her Bachelors degree at the College of Wooster in Psychology and Biology. Her undergraduate honors thesis, under the supervision of Dr. John Neuhoff and Dr. Laura Sirot, researched male infertility, with a focus on alternative methods to influence reproductive fertility in men. Following graduation, she moved back to Kentucky where she worked as a research assistant at the Center for Trauma and Children contributing to research surrounding secondary traumatic stress and childhood trauma. She entered UNL’s Clinical Psychology doctoral program and the WISH lab in the fall of 2020.

Harper’s research interests are the psychophysiology of women’s sexual functioning and arousal and the role of evolutionary theory on human sexuality. More specifically, her current research is focused on sexual functioning in sexual assault survivors, examining the role of life history on evolutionary processes such as the preparatory arousal theory and disgust response.

In her free time, she enjoys playing with her pug, cooking, playing board games, cross stitching, and traveling.