By Emily Hubbell

Alyssa Thomas has always trusted her instincts.

“I have gut feelings. Heidelberg University was the only undergraduate school I applied to, because I knew I wanted to go there. Ohio University was the only graduate school I applied to, because I knew I wanted to go there,” said Thomas. “And Utica College was my absolute number one choice for teaching.”

Thomas, an OU student graduating this month with a doctorate in physical chemistry, is about to set sail for New York, where she will become an assistant professor of chemistry at Utica College. Utica is a private, liberal arts university with about 3600 undergraduate students and four full-time chemistry faculty.

Thomas has spent her last five years at OU researching, teaching and writing her dissertation, titled Growth of Thin Film Water on a-Al₂O₃ (0001) and its Implications for Ice Nucleation . She defended her dissertation earlier this month and is now preparing for her move to the east coast.

Athens aspirations

As soon as Thomas enrolled at OU, she had another gut feeling—she wanted Dr. Hugh Richardson as her advisor. She has been a member of his research group ever since.

At OU, Thomas’s research involved thin film water and its absorption on alpha aluminum oxide, commonly known as sapphire. She also conducted fundamental research to help fill gaps in the understanding of water and ice.

“You may think that with water and ice, we know everything. Really, there are a lot of fundamental things we don’t understand,” Thomas said. “One is how it nucleates.”

She also worked with the Richardson group on a second research area—the thermal and optical properties of gold nano particles.

As an advisor, Richardson pushed Thomas to step out of her comfort zone.

She attended her first conference the summer after she came to OU. Richardson urged her to write the research paper entirely on her own and submitted it to the reviewers without his editing. The reviewers accepted the paper and Thomas gained important, real-world skills.

“It threw me into the fire. It threw me into the deep end of the pool,” she said. “But until you start doing some of those things, you don’t know the process.”

In 2006, Thomas gave an oral presentation at the “International Conference on the Chemistry and Physics of Ice” in Germany.  It was Thomas’ first time traveling abroad and, although her luggage was lost for days, she still considers it one of her favorite memories of OU.

As a mentor, Richardson supported Thomas’ dream of being a professor.

“He has always tried to remember that I want to teach. He allowed me to have my goals and didn’t impose his aspirations for me,” Thomas said. “At the same time, he still pushed me to be better than I thought I could be.”

Richardson introduced her to other students who have went into teaching and helped her get a spot teaching two chemistry classes this year.

During Fall Quarter, Thomas taught Chemistry 351, a physical chemistry class geared toward students with pre-professional degrees such as pre-med and pre-dentistry. This quarter, she is teaching Chemistry 455, a physical chemistry class on quantum mechanics with only five students.

Thomas said the transition from student to teacher wasn’t difficult because teaching has always been her goal.

“I knew I’ve wanted to be a professor since I was a sophomore undergrad,” she said. ““I don’t want to be the person to publish or perish and not focus on my teaching as much as I’d like to.”

Landing the dream job

When Thomas started her job search, she knew she didn’t want to be at a large research university. She wanted her focus to be on teaching.

She found a job opening at Utica College and instantly knew it was for her.

 “I teared up writing the cover letter, I wanted this job so bad,” Thomas said.

As one of four full-time chemistry faculty members, Thomas will be in charge of physical chemistry. She will also teach general chemistry with the department chair.  Utica’s chemistry program is ASC accredited and undergraduate-only. 

In addition to teaching, she will establish a lab group with undergraduate student researchers. She plans to build on the research she conducted at OU.

“I want to continue with thin film water research and also introduce basic research on the fundamentals of gold and silver nano particles,” Thomas said. “I want to expose undergraduates to nanotechnology.”

In 2005, Utica was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to cover the cost of updating its equipment. The department’s instrumentation, which includes an atomic force microscopy unit, now rivals the equipment at OU, she said.

But what sealed the deal for Thomas were Utica’s values and strong student interaction.