Paula Yurkanis Bruice was raised primarily in Massachusetts, Germany, and Switzerland and was graduated from the Girls' Latin School in Boston. She received an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Virginia. She has been a member of the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara since 1972, where she has received the Associated Students Teacher of the Year Award, the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, and two Mortar Board Professor of the Year Awards.