Allen Apblett received a B.Sc.(Honours) degree from The University of New Brunswick in 1984 and then graduate school at The University of Calgary under the supervision of Dr. Tristam Chivers where he received a Ph.D. in March 1989. He was awarded a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship that he took up at Harvard University in Dr. Andrew Barron's research group. In 1991 he became an assistant professor at Tulane University and then moved to Oklahoma State University in 1997. He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Ceramic Society, and the National Academy of Science.