Jauernig was born in Wehrda, a small town in Germany that has since been incorporated into
Marburg an der Lahn. She spent her formative years in
Kirchzarten, a smaller town located in the
Black Forest region near
Freiburg im Breisgau. At the age of 15, her family relocated to
Aachen, a city of historical significance as the residence of
Charlemagne and the center of the
Carolingian Empire around 800 AD. She pursued undergraduate studies in philosophy, physics, and psychology at the
University of Bonn, a city that formerly served as the capital of
West Germany. Her academic trajectory included a year as a visiting student at the
University of Oxford. Throughout her youth, she was actively involved in competitive swimming, spending a substantial portion of her time training and competing in pools—an environment she continues to enjoy. In 1997, she moved to the United States to undertake doctoral studies in philosophy at
Princeton University. She began her professional academic career in 2002 with a faculty position at the
University of Notre Dame in
Indiana. After nearly a decade in the
Midwest, she relocated to the
East Coast, first to
University of Pittsburgh for three and a half years, and later to
New York City, where she currently resides. == Selected publications ==