Professor Sternad's research focuses on the control and coordination of goal-directed human behaivor, specifically rhythmic and discrete movements, dynamical modeling of movements, role of dynamical stability and structure of variability in acquisition and performance of perceptual-motor skills.

She has written several books, including Progress in Motor Control: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Sternad is the executive editor of the Journal of Motor Behavior, and a member of the NIH study section on Motor Function, Rehabilitation and Speech and the NSF panel on Perception, Action and Cognition.

Before coming to Northeastern, she served on the faculty at Pennsylvania State University, where she headed the Action Lab in the Department of Kinesiology's Program in Motor Control and Neuroscience. Sternad received a PhD in experimental pscyhology from the University of Connecticut.