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Dr. Gina Frey
PI

I enjoy teaching general chemistry and helping students transition into the university. I also enjoy co-teaching the science education research course for graduates and upper-level undergraduate students, and introducing students to the STEM education-research discipline.

We have research scientists, graduate students, and undergraduate students working in our group. If you are interested in working with us, please contact me or any of the group members.

It is great living in Salt Lake City and seeing the mountains every day. A few of my favorite activities are running, hiking in the canyons, and cooking.

Contact: gina.frey@utah.edu

Vanessa Johnson
Research Associate

Vanessa (she/her/ella) is a research scientist in the Frey STEM Education Research group at the University of Utah. Her professional background is in higher education assessment and evaluation, focusing on building surveys using scale development theory that measures various aspects of campus racial climates. Her scholarly background includes working on several research projects focused on transfer students' pathways and college climate experiences and has conducted experimental designs to measure the impact of metacognitive homework assignments called "Scientist Spotlight" on students' science identity, specifically on women, first-generation, and Black and Brown undergraduate students.

Utilizing QuantCrt and scale development theory, she has built and validated constructs to measure how racist political rhetoric and state-sanctioned violence emotionally and behaviorally impact Black and Brown students on a predominately white campus. Because postsecondary institutions do not exist in a vacuum, her research helps connect the relationship between societal and campus racism and aids in helping institutions examine policies and practices that further marginalize Black and Brown students on their campuses and explore ways in which institutions can better support students holistically.

Before joining the Frey STEM Education Research Group, Vanessa was a graduate researcher in the David Eccles School of Business and College of Education at the University of Utah. She is a doctoral candidate (expected graduation Fall 2022) and holds an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership & Policy from the University of Utah. Among other honors, Vanessa received the Deans College of Education Research Fellowship and was chosen to be a UCEA Barbara L. Jackson Scholar (2019). Outside the lab, Vanessa enjoys spending time with her husband, visiting family, traveling, duplicating her mother’s Peruvian recipes, and taking care of her rescue dog Pecas.

Contact: vanessa.johnson@utah.edu

Lorraine Linares Laguerre
Graduate Student, PhD Candidate

Lorraine is a 3rdyear graduate student in the Chemistry program. She is currently a PhD candidate in Chemical Education. Puerto Rico is her home country and were she completed her undergrad degree in Chemistry. At the moment she is involved in educational research focused on classroom inclusion as well as the cognition and metacognition of STEM students. Lorraine enjoys going to the movie theater, visiting national parks and dancing.

Contact: u1215543@utah.edu

Hector Torres
Graduate Student

My name is Hector Torres, I recently graduated with my bachelors in chemistry with a teaching emphasis. I will be starting my first year of graduate school at the university of Utah this coming Fall. I am working with the CSME to study the LA program, I will be studying how professors at the university of Utah incorporate LAs into their courses. I very much enjoy teaching as a teaching assistant for Organic chemistry. My favorite snack is sugar.

Contact: hector.torres@utah.edu

Mark Jareczek
REU Undergraduate Student

Mark is a 3rd year undergraduate student double-majoring in Chemistry and Educational Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Mark aspires to bring people together in the context of chemistry: and his research is focused on inclusion and social belonging as it relates to chemistry Peer-Led-Team-Learning (PLTL). He is also interested in the benefits and effects of undergraduate leadership/mentorship in chemistry. Mark is a Chicago native, and in his free time enjoys hiking, cooking, Pokémon, and spending time with those close to him.

Contact: mjareczek@wustl.edu

Tenzin Norzom
SPUR Undergraduate Student

Tenzin is an undergraduate student majoring in Health, Society, and Policy at the University of Utah. Tenzin is interested in learning about the factors influencing social belonging within the academic setting: and her research focuses on the course level social belonging and academic performance in General Chemistry 1. Tenzin is also involved within the university as an executive director of student immersion and outreach in ASUU and enjoys connecting with people. Tenzin is a Tibetan Native, and in her free time enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, exploring national parks, and spending time with friends and families.

Contact: tnorzom@asuu.utah.edu

Vanessa Bustamante
Graduate Student, PhD Candidate

Vanessa is a 2nd-year graduate student interested in chemical education research. In her free time, Vanessa enjoys hiking, exploring national parks, and spending time with her family and significant other. Her favorite subjects to TA have been organic chemistry and physical chemistry. Vanessa hopes to work with students in the future, helping them discover the joys and usefulness of chemistry.

Contact: vanessa.p.bustamante@utah.edu

Olivia Schmitz
Undergraduate student

My name is Olivia Schmitz and I am an undergraduate student studying chemistry with a teaching emphasis. I plan to get a master's degree in educational psychology starting in the fall 2023 semester then possibly a Ph.D. in chemistry education. I have worked with general chemistry students as a learning assistant and a teaching assistant since the fall 2021 semester. Social belonging is important to me as a future educator and my research in the Frey group is a great outlet for my belief. Outside of my work as a student and researcher, I enjoy hiking, baking, and spending time with my cats.

Contact: u1263355@utah.edu

Science Research Initiative (SRI) Students:

Spring 2022

Left to right: Salma Djalal, Sophie Humphreys (on Zoom) and Maria Munoz.

Previous Group Members:

Rachael Mayhew

Hannah Blomgren

Josh Edwards

Dasha Walker
SuYeong (Sophie) Shin

Stella Ray

Frey Group News

April 2024 – Congratulations to Jocelyn Tucker and Josie Valerius on their oral presentation titled "A qualitative study exploring students opened ended responses regarding belonging uncertainty in general chemistry ", and to Bricia Hendry and Kass Johnson on their poster titled "How Comfortability with Professor Affects Students’ Perception of Belonging." They all gave terrific presentations! And, as a special treat, Dasha Walker (former undergraduate researcher in the group and current dental student) came by to see the presentations.

October 2022 – Lorraine Laguerre Van Sickle attends SACNAS (The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science) in Puerto Rico. She gave a talk on study habits and talked with undergraduates about graduate school (and chemical education research) in the US. Great job, Lori!
July 2022 - Group hike!

 

 

 

 

 

July 2022 - Celebratory lunch for Josh Edwards!

 

May 2022 - Congratulations to Josh Edwards!!

 

Spring 2022 - A College of Science (COS) program that gives first-year students the opportunity to participate in scientific research during their first year. As a cohort, these students take a research class their first semester that prepares them to work in a research lab, and in the spring they join an SRI research group (known as an SRI Stream).
This spring, 3 students joined the Frey SRI Stream, where they conducted qualitative research on general chemistry student responses to open-ended questions describing their reasons for selecting their level of social belonging in General Chemistry. Specifically, these SRI students started developing a code book for student responses to the question “I feel uncertain about my belonging in CHEM 1210 (i.e., sometimes I feel that I belong and sometimes I don’t).”
The students are (left to right in the photo): Salma Djalal, Sophie Humphreys (on zoom) and Maria Munoz.

 

April 2022 - Dasha Walker receives the Diana Campbell Memorial Staff Excellence Award!

April 2022 - Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE) at Washington University in St. Louis and the Frey group at the University of Utah are co-hosting the 2022 CIRCLE National Conference “Integrating Psychology and STEM Education Research to Promote Innovative Teaching” on April 4-5, 2022. The conference is being supported by the Association of American Universities (AAU) of which both the University of Utah and Washington University in St. Louis are members.

Find more info: circle.wustl.edu/events/2022-circle-conference/
February 2022 - weekly group meeting

December 2021 - Dasha Walker accepts an admission offer from the University of Utah School of Dentistry to start in Fall 2022!
October 2021 - Prof. Gina Frey visits Washington University in St. Louis and meets with our REU student - Mark Jareczek

September 2021 - Josh Edwards publishes his first first-author paper in a special issue in Journal of Chemical Education about “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect in Chemistry Education Research and Practice”.  Josh's paper is titled “Relationship between Course-Level Social Belonging (Sense of Belonging and Belonging Uncertainty) and Academic Performance in General Chemistry 1” and is co-authored by Ramón Barthelemy and Gina Frey. Congratulations, Josh!!
The University of Utah's news source @theU published an article about Josh's work - https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/belonging-uncertainty-stem/

August 2021 - Josh Edwards presents at the 2021 ACS meeting in Atlanta, Georgia

August 2021 - REU student Mark is giving his Summer REU poster presentation

August 2021 - Dasha Walker graduates with her Bachelor Degree!
July 2021 - the group goes on the Circle-All Peak hike. 1,541 ft elevation gain!

 

 

July 2021 - Prof. Gina Frey went to visit Eileen Ragsdale to update her on what our group is doing and what the department is doing in continuing outreach to high-school students and teachers. They had a wonderful visit together and will be meeting again in the Fall.
Eileen (and her husband who passed away in 2020) is the supporter of Gina's named professorship (Ron and Eileen Ragsdale Endowed Chair in Chemical Education). She is extremely interested in teaching (both university and high school) and chemical education research. Because of her support, the department has started this area of research.

 

June 2021 - REU student Mark is participating in the annual Chemistry department table tennis tournament

 

June 2021 - Frey group is part of the national Inclusive STEM Teaching Project

A national multi-institutional collaboration, funded by the NSF, has designed a 6-week MOOC with local learning communities for faculty, postdocs, and graduate students to learn about and implement inclusive learning environments for all their students.
June 2021 - Frey group is back in our offices, yea!

June 2021 - REU student Mark is working with Josh this summer

May 2021 - the group goes on the Living Room hike!

Our group hike made it on the POGIL website!
https://pogil.org/about-the-pogil-project/the-pogil-water-bottle
May 2021 - Hannah and Stella graduate with their Bachelor degrees!

July 2020 - NEOWISE Comet
Our undergraduate researcher and physics & astronomy major, Hannah, went to view NEOWISE through her telescope. Our undergraduate researcher, Dasha, took pictures of the NEOWISE comet and the night sky.
NEOWISE comet

The night sky

 

 

Scott L. Anderson
Distinguished Professor
Henry Eyring Presidential Endowed Chair of Chemistry
anderson@chem.utah.edu