Prior to that she was a professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and earlier at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She received her M.Sc. (2000) and Ph.D. (2005) in Mechanical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology. She worked as a visiting scholar at Center for Innovation in Product Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Hölttä-Otto teaches project based design courses as well as courses on design theory and methodology. Her areas of specialization include creativity, need finding, design methodologies and modular product platforms. She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award and multiple best paper awards.