Averyt received her bachelor's degrees in chemistry and marine science from the University of Miami.
She earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2004 and then worked as a NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Fellow.
[1] Averyt moved to Colorado where she served as the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Western Water Assessment program.
[9][10] From 2017 until 2019[11] Averyt was the named president of the Desert Research Institute, making her the first woman to hold this position.
[13] In 2023 Averyt was appointed by the White House to serve on issues surrounding drought in the western United States,[14] a position she held until January 2024.