Hölttä-Otto earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology (now part of Aalto University) in 2000, and completed a Ph.D. there in 2005.[2]
While doing her doctoral studies, she was a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in its Center for Innovation in Product Development.[4] Her dissertation, Modular Product Platform Design, was supervised by Kalevi "Eetu" Ekman.[5]
At UMass Dartmouth, she was honored in 2012 by the Center for Women, Gender & Sexuality for her support of women students in engineering.[6] At Aalto University, she became chair of the Professors' Council in 2017.[7]