Tanya Fry wins 2025 ACS National Chemical Technician Award

Tanya Fry, a sensory science leader at Dow’s Texas Innovation Center is the recipient of the American Chemical Society’s 2025 National Chemical Technician Award . This award honors excellence and professionalism among technicians, operators, analysts, and other applied chemical technology professionals (CTPs). Fry joined Dow Chemical’s packaging and specialty plastics business in 1988, while she was studying for an associate’s degree in chemical technology at Brazosport College. “I started out as a co-op student doing physical testing,” she says. Soon after graduating, she moved to the business’s sensory science lab. “I’ve been working in sensory science for 35 years,” Fry says. Her responsibilities include running the sensory science lab and championing the role of technicians within Dow as chair of the Texas Operations Influential Leader Network. Since 1996, Fry has also been helping set global standards for sensory science as a member of the ASTM Committee E18 on Sensory Evaluation.