GINA FREY, PHD

Professor of Chemistry

Collaborative Principal Investigator

University of Utah

Gina Frey is the Ronald and Eileen Ragsdale Professor of Chemical Education and professor in chemistry at the University of Utah. Gina’s fields of expertise are in STEM education research for higher education and faculty development. In the Inclusive STEM Teaching Project, she is one of the collaborative PIs, is one of the module developers for Modules 4 and 5, and leads the project-research group.

Gina’s research focuses on examining collaborative-learning pedagogies, metacognition, and other evidence-based strategies from cognitive psychology that improve student learning and help students in STEM to transition to college-level learning. Another key research area focuses on promoting and creating an inclusive environment and sense-of-belonging in STEM courses for all students by developing, implementing, and evaluating social-psychological research findings in the classroom. Synergistically, Gina’s research also focuses on educating and supporting faculty in these areas to implement evidence-based strategies through developing online and in-person educational material and implementing and evaluating faculty-development programs. The goal of her group is to help faculty create a classroom environment and curriculum where all students can succeed in and enjoy STEM. 

Gina received her B.S. degree, summa cum laude, in chemistry and mathematics from Clarion State University in Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Utah. Leaving industry, she joined the Department of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis in 1994, was head of The Teaching Center from 2001-2017, and co-founded and co-directed CIRCLE (a STEM education research center) from 2011-2017. Gina joined the University of Utah in 2019.