Allyson Fry-Petit, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, earned her doctorate in inorganic chemistry from Ohio State University and was a postdoctoral research associate at Johns Hopkins University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and critical thought and inquiry from William Jewell College in Missouri.
Why did you pursue the opportunity to join the Titan community?
I accepted the opportunity to join the Titan community because CSUF allows me to focus on my main passion of teaching, while giving me the resources to engage with undergraduate students in meaningful research, which, in my opinion, is the best teaching tool we have in chemistry.
What do you most look forward to now that you’re here?
I look forward to engaging with students in the classroom and the laboratory. I’m also looking forward to experiencing the excitement of doing research the first time through my students; that experience is what convinced me to pursue my Ph.D. when I was in college, and I hope to play a role in inspiring that in my students.
What areas of continued scholarship and research are of particular interest to you?
I am a ‘solid state inorganic’ chemist, which means I’m interested in making compounds that can be used in technological goods. I approach this from a basic point of view: we can’t make the best light emitting diode (LED) to replace incandescent light bulbs until we truly understand how the LED is working on the atomic level. Therefore, my lab focus is on directing our synthetic efforts toward materials with the greatest return: for example, can we use data about known materials to predict which material is the best for us to make? We identify the materials to make through data mining and then investigate what we have made by diffraction and spectroscopic means, both at CSUF and at national lab facilities.
What are some of your outside activities, hobbies or interests?
I enjoy spending time with my husband, hiking, cooking and attending a variety of concerts. In particular, I look forward to attending Los Angeles Philharmonic performances.