She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in geology and physics from Carleton University in 1978 before earning her master's degree in civil engineering at the University of Western Ontario. Following her graduate degree, Atkinson worked with Klohn Leonoff Consulting Engineers and Acres International Ltd and held research fellowships with the University of British Columbia and the Geological Survey of Canada. She eventually returned to UWO for her PhD in geophysics, which she received in 1993.

She is a former professor at the University of Western Ontario and Canada Research Chair in Earthquake Hazards and Ground Motions. In 2014, Atkinson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for being an "international leader in the development of models to predict earthquake ground motions as a function of magnitude and distance."