Dr. Gooding was born in Baltimore, MD and was raised in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Florida. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees from Purdue University and began teaching AP Calculus and Computer Science at the High School for Engineering Professions and Houston Community College in Houston, TX. Upon realizing how hot Houston gets in the summer, she took a job with University of Maryland's Asian Division teaching Computer Science and Math courses throughout Japan, Korea, Okinawa, and the Philippines. She returned to the United States, moving to Roanoke and earning a PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech where her dissertation was titled "The Effect of Retinal Disparity Depth Cues on Cognitive Workload in Three-Dimensional Stereoscopic Displays".

Since completing her PhD, Dr. Gooding has taught Computer Science and Math at Roanoke College, Virginia Western Community College, and Salem High School.

She is the mother of three exceptionally well behaved and good looking children: Will, Emily, and Andrew. She enjoys running, reading, and spending time with her children.

This year, Dr. Gooding will be teaching College Linear Algebra and JAVA at RVGS.