USU senior Emma Watts studies stats and snow
Emma Watts is a Utah State University senior who has been involved in the College of Science and has taken advantage of all snow-related research opportunities.
“I’m super interested in climate application because that’s what my research is in right now,” Watts said.
A highlight of her schooling includes writing a proposal with Dr. Brennan Bean to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study rain-on-snow events.
Watts is also involved in a project for the Nevada Department of Transportation collecting stream flow data with statistical programming.
Watts’ work will directly impact how the Nevada Department of Transportation designs culverts and other flood mitigation strategies.
“These rain-on-snow events are really dangerous when you’re not prepped, and if your infrastructure design and any other vulnerable areas are not ready to handle that kind of moisture. It’s pretty destructive,” Watts said.
On top of Watts’ research projects, she is currently ending this semester with a 20-credit workload.
Watts is involved in a lot of community service and leads an organization of young women in weekly activities.
“She’s wonderful. She’s really dedicated to understanding her field and how she can benefit the world and people around her,” Mckay Anderson, her husband, said.
Watts’ love for math and statistics started in grade school.
Watts was the math club president at her high school for multiple years and competed in competitions like SkillsUSA. However, it wouldn’t be until her senior year in high school that she decided statistics was what she wanted to do.
“I had a really bad AP statistics teacher who had no idea what he was talking about,” Watts laughed. “I put a lot of effort into that class, like on my own time, and I ended up loving it. When I found out there was a joint degree up here, so you could study both simultaneously, I was like, ‘I’m doing that.’”
Watts was also involved in a start-up rock band playing the keyboard and sync backup. Watts and her band would perform at places like the Velour in Provo.
“It was so fun, but that’s since been disbanded,” Watts said.
Watts comes from a big family. She has seven siblings, including her younger sister, who has a rare disease called Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.
“Some of the defining characteristics is that she’s super short — 4 feet, 7 inches — and nonverbal,” Watts said. “She has her own little language that she speaks.”
Watts and her sister became super close when Watts participated in respite care before her mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, when Watts left for her mission, her little sister didn’t know where she went.
“To her, I was just gone. My sister probably thought I was dead,” Watts said. “When I could call for Christmas, and she saw my face, she freaked out. It’s just super awesome. She is the coolest person ever — she is just so sweet.”
Watts shared that her sister’s role in her personal growth and education is special.
“She’s going to be a very successful person, not only in her career, but with her family and helping to raise her kids,” Anderson said.
Watts is starting graduate school next semester and is starting her thesis this summer. Watts plans to further her research on climate application with Dr. Bean. She hopes to one day work for the National Security Agency doing data analysis.
-Alivia.Hadfield@usu.edu
Featured photo by Paige Johnson