Women in STEM: Denison's Rachel Mitton-Fry loves exploring the unknown

GRANVILLE – As a child, Rachel Mitton-Fry “really liked” math and reading. “In grade school,” she remembered, “my dreams were to be an elementary school teacher, a librarian, or a marine biologist – the latter inspired by several childhood visits to the now-closed Sea World in northeastern Ohio.”

Then in high school, she took an interest in science, and specifically chemistry.

“For me,” she recalled, “this was the first time I realized how much we didn’t yet know about how things worked, that there is so much yet to discover.”

“I love solving puzzles,” she continued, “and I love putting the pieces of a complex problem together. I like that chemistry requires you to think beyond what you can see, and how understanding things on an atomic level truly allows you to better understand how the world and the body works.”

These days, Mitton-Fry is an associate professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at Denison University, teaching general chemistry, intermediate biochemistry, and “an upper level literature-based course on nucleic acids.”

“I also work with students in my research lab,” she added, “where we’re interested in RNA thermometers. Our primary focus is on thinking about the structural changes that occur in these RNAs in response to temperature change.”

Mitton-Fry grew up in Richfield, Ohio, a small town between Akron and Cleveland. She went to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio for high school, then earned a BA in chemistry from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“I decided my dream was to teach chemistry at a small, liberal arts institution,” she said. “I went to graduate school (University of Colorado at Boulder) knowing that I needed a Ph.D. if I wanted to do this.  Then I learned I really needed a post-doc to be competitive. After some twists and turns, I ended up at Yale, where I had the opportunity to pursue post-doctoral research in the lab of Joan Steitz.”

“Luckily for me,” Mitton-Fry added, “I had a great mentor who advocated for me. Joan was truly engaged with improving the retention of women in science, and she offered me the opportunity to work in her lab part-time (and convinced my post-doctoral fellowship to fund me while doing so). Teaching still seemed like a stretch, but being able to stretch my postdoctoral time while my kids were young gave me a chance to finish up a major research project, pursue teaching experience and training, and ultimately, enter the job market.”

She started at Denison in the fall of 2011.

“I’m a chemist at heart,” she explained, “so I was looking for a position teaching biochemistry in a chemistry department. I firmly believe in the power of a liberal arts education – and yes, I firmly believe that science is an intrinsic component of the liberal arts.”

“I work with students in projects for directed study, summer research (though not this summer), and senior research,” she continued. “I consider myself truly lucky, as I get to see where students start, as they enter Denison, and then how far they’ve come, personally and intellectually, by the time they graduate.”

“I also really enjoy working with students, particularly in the laboratory,” she added. “There are so many awesome ‘a-ha’ moments, and I always find myself learning something new as I teach a topic.”

“I don’t really consider myself a role model, because my goal is not that students should follow my path.

Ultimately,” she summed, “I’d like to be a mentor for students, in part because of how I have benefitted throughout my life from supportive mentors.”