All Gas, No Brakes: Allison Reed Speeds to Spring Commencement with Research Experience and Lifelong Connections
Nearly every day, Allison Reed straps on a helmet, mounts her 2006 Yamaha R6 heading for UNC Charlotte, where she applies physics and mathematics to advanced real-world problems. Her motorcycle, a 599cc racing bike that can go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds and reach a top speed of 165 mph, is a marvel of physics itself.
“I love bikes because they’re fun but also because they are an amazing display of physics,” Reed said. “If a career in research doesn’t work out, I’d love to work in the motorcycle racing industry, designing new bikes and using physics to ensure optimal performance.”
At Spring Commencement, Reed will graduate with degrees in physics and mathematics, research credits, the support of research faculty and a cohort of lifelong friends. But her path to this point wasn’t straightforward. On asphalt, and in life, she embraces sharp turns.
Reed’s first love was horses. She has memories from age 5 trucking around on ponies. As she got older she got a horse of her own and progressed from lessons to competitions. After graduating high school, she moved to Colorado to study equine behavioral science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. However, she realized that as much as she loved horses, and still does, she didn’t want to spend her career in the barn.
Reed returned home to North Carolina, and while mulling over a path forward, she recalled all of the physics and science documentaries she watched with her father growing up and the hands-on physics class she took in high school. Both scratched an intellectual curiosity that inspired her to pursue it as a major. She applied to UNC Charlotte and from there she was off and running.
Research Under the Skin and Over the Moon
Research has been foundational to Reed’s experience at Charlotte. From May 2022 to January 2023, she worked with graduate student Maddie Kern ’23, M.S., on her Optical Science and Engineering master’s thesis that used thermal imaging to view blood vessels to aid non-invasive procedures. She also did research for credit in spring 2024 for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, where she and two friends, Zach Bessant and Anastasia Kolesnikov, wrote a paper on the possibility of getting to Mars by slingshotting around the moon.
“My ultimate goal is to become a theoretical physicist with a concentration in astrophysical general relativity/time/gravity and for that type of job, research is absolutely vital,” Reed said. “I also just find it fascinating. Without research, we wouldn’t know of the society we have today.”
Currently, Reed and Ritchie Dudley, assistant undergraduate lab coordinator, are researching Hawking radiation and quantum mechanics by simulating a black hole with fiber optic cables.
Finding Community in Niner Nation
The Department of Physics and Optical Science, housed in the Klein College of Science, is a tight-knit community. Reed recalls meeting fellow majors on day one and then seeing them from course to course throughout their college careers. They completed projects together, helped one another with homework and caught up over dinners. The group even had its own Discord and Minecraft servers to stay connected.
“I spent the last three years with the exact same students in every class, and we became really, really good friends,” Reed said. “I’m hoping the group stays together after graduating, too.”
Some of her core group graduated in fall 2024 and on Saturday, May 10, Reed takes her turn. Besides the connections made with her classmates, Reed will miss the outgoing professors who helped with her education and made her feel supported at every turn.
“I’ve had several professors write me letters of recommendation for various things, and I really appreciate all that they’ve done,” Reed said “I hope that at some point, I’ll be able to send them the work I’m doing and thank them again.”
During the summer, Reed, in collaboration with Dudley, will expand her analog gravity system and Hawking radiation research paper. Then, she will turn attention to applying to graduate schools, networking with researchers and seeking her next research project. But first, she will cross the stage at Halton Arena under the watchful eye of proud parents and loved ones.
“In high school, you dream of what you want to do when you grow up, but graduating with the degree that actually prepares you to do that is kind of surreal,” Reed said. “When I walk the stage, I’ll be kind of anxious but mostly excited.”
Story by Alex Reynolds, communications specialist. Photos by Jenn Conway, director of communications, and courtesy of Allison Reed.