Jessica Utts

Affiliation
University of California, Irvine

Educational Background
Penn State University: PhD, Statistics (1978)
Penn State University: MA, Statistics (1975)
State University of New York at Binghamton: BA, Mathematics and Psychology (1973)

About Jessica
Jessica Utts was born in Niagara Falls, New York, in the post-WWII baby boom, when women of her mother’s age were encouraged to leave the work force and start a family. The social forces that led her mother to abandon a partially completed master’s degree and have five children (with Jessica as second oldest) were to have a major effect on Jessica’s career, as her mother channeled her career ambitions into helping her daughter succeed academically. Jessica’s father was a newspaper reporter and editor, instilling in his daughter a love of creative writing and a curiosity about social trends. His career led the family from New York State to Pittsburgh, and ultimately to Southern New Jersey, where Jessica completed high school.

Returning to New York for an undergraduate degree at SUNY-Binghamton, Jessica discovered her aptitude for mathematics could be combined with her fascination with human consciousness through a double major in math and psychology, leading one of her math professors—the son of statistician S.N. Roy—to suggest she pursue a PhD in statistics. After consulting with then ASA Executive Director Fred Leone, she chose Penn State for her graduate work.

Jessica was invited to become a founding member of the newly established division of statistics at the University of California, Davis, after completing her PhD. Throughout her 30 years at UC Davis, in addition to her professorial role, Jessica served in a variety of leadership positions, including director of the Women’s buy ativan tablets Studies Program, associate vice provost for university outreach, and director of the campus-wide honors program.

During her graduate student years at Penn State, Jessica developed a love of teaching and a passion for promoting statistic literacy. Watching her sister and mother struggle through formula-based statistics courses (as her mother finally did get back to completing a master’s degree) prompted Jessica to publish two literacy-based textbooks: Seeing Through Statistics and Mind on Statistics (co-authored with Robert Heckard). Jessica won two awards for outstanding teaching while at UC Davis.

Jessica’s interest in psychology led to her involvement with research in parapsychology, the scientific study of alleged psychic abilities. Through a fortuitous meeting with researchers while on sabbatical at Stanford, she became a consultant at SRI International, where the US government had initiated a classified research program to study these potential abilities. Jessica later spent a year on the research staff at SRI International, ultimately leading her to be invited to write a report for Congress on the results of the research.

In 2008, Jessica left UC Davis to join the newly formed department of statistics at UC Irvine, where she served as department chair for five years. In addition to her many academic leadership roles, she has served as president of the American Statistical Association, the Caucus for Women in Statistics, and WNAR and as chair of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association for Psychological Science.