Jessica Torrey got her BS degree in Ceramic Engineering in 2002 from Alfred University in western New York. From there she moved to Seattle to pursue a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington under the advisement of Prof. Raj Bordia. In 2007, she was awarded a research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to conduct research of her design in Germany. She spent the fellowship working at the University of Erlangen and the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research (ZAE Bayern) developing transparent cellular substrates for photocatalytic water purification.

Jessica joined the Rolandi group as a post-doc in October 2008.