The Many Firsts for Aleia Frye
Pitt research opportunities help first-generation student reach new heights
Photo above: Aleia Frye in Prague, in the Czech Republic
Altoona native Aleia Frye is the first in her family to attend a four-year university. The third-year industrial engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering is the oldest of her siblings and, as she said, “has had to figure things out on my own.”
Thanks to the many possibilities she’s encountered at the Swanson School and through her department, Frye has experienced many personal firsts, including traveling out of the country for the first time to study abroad in Prague, in the Czech Republic, and serving as an undergraduate teaching assistant and as a research assistant. This past July, she even attended the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) First Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference alone, where she presented a paper she’d written and participated on a student panel.
“I try to live by the principle that there’s no such thing as a bad opportunity,” said Frye. “As a first-gen student, I can find myself worrying about the future, so I always try to take new opportunities when they’re presented.”
Last school year, that meant helping Scott Streiner, assistant professor of industrial engineering, with his research into the relationship between moral intuition and exposure to ethics education in first-year engineering students.
“We have a customized research concentration,” said Streiner. “Students can work with faculty as undergraduates and be paid or receive credit for the research.”
“Originally, I was going to clean up and analyze data,” said Frye, who is considering pursuing a graduate degree. But when she was presented with the chance to write a paper and attend a conference, she jumped at it.
At the end of July, she traveled to the University of Maryland and participated in the three-day conference. “I got to attend many interesting panels and talks and even a session where participants were pitching their ideas,” Frye said. “I presented my paper and spoke on a panel of other TAs.”
Her experiences in Maryland provided Frye with valuable confidence. As she remembered, “I’ve always been drawn to math and science and wanted to pursue engineering, but I worried that I wasn’t cut out for it. My AP Physics teacher in high school convinced me I was.”
Now, Frye plans to build off her many firsts as she continues to research with Streiner. “I’m going to write another paper that I hope to present at a larger ASEE conference. I plan to continue this research.”
“With the opportunities available in industrial engineering, Aleia will graduate as lead author on at least two conference papers and probably co-author on at least one journal paper—as an undergraduate,” Streiner added.
Whether she becomes the first in her family to attend graduate school remains to be seen, but whatever her next first, Frye will be ready to take on the opportunity.