Official Story
Ashley received her B.S. degree in Neuroscience from Lafayette College in 2011. With just enough research experience under her belt, she went on to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience at UC San Diego with Ed Callaway. During her PhD, Ashley used various imaging techniques to understand different cell types and circuits in the mouse visual cortex. In 2016, Ashley moved to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to work with Anne Churchland on innate behaviors in freely moving mice. She became an Assistant Teaching Professor in Neurobiology at UC San Diego in 2018, where she teaches, writes, and co-directs the BS/MS and STARTneuro programs. In 2020, she published her first book, So You Want to be a Neuroscientist?, meant to be a guide for aspiring scientists who are curious about our field.
Unofficial Story
Ashley often says she's from Philadelphia but she is really from South Jersey. She is the first doctorate holder and first scientist in her family - she relied on input from guidance counselors and college professors to figure out that science was a reasonable path forward. After reading "Mind Wide Open," by Steven Johnson, Ashley started to think that neuroscience was a fascinating field, and applied to colleges with at least some semblance of a neuroscience program. Her father also encouraged her to pursue engineering - she looked for schools that had both. She ended up at Lafayette College, a school largely attended by students from families with much, much higher household incomes than her own (she was on a full scholarship), which was a bit isolating.
Upon graduating college, Ashley applied to the Peace Corps and to multiple neuroscience PhD programs as well as an PhD/MPP (Masters in Public Policy) program. She also very briefly and not-so-seriously considered trying to make it as a singer-songwriter. Although teaching science in South Africa was tempting, she decided she'd channel the desire to give back into something else. The aforementioned guidance counselor advised her that sometimes when we gain power in systems we can ultimately initiate change in the larger infrastructure - the kind of change that has lasting impact. The PhD/MPP program was also tempting, but Ashley decided to go against her liberal arts gut and pursue the pure PhD.
Ashley was barely ready for graduate school. Her liberal arts college had one narrow slice of neuroscience, and her research experience largely consisted of summer research programs - experiences that wouldn't have been attainable if they didn't pay stipends and cover housing. By some miracle, she was accepted to UC San Diego's neuroscience program. During those years, she learned how satisfying systems neuroscience could be, how to play in a band, as well as how to navigate being queer with her Catholic upbringing.
Still drawn to neuroscience and the prospect of being a professor, Ashley pursued a postdoc. However, the reality of her long distance relationship set in. Ashley started considering many different options for next steps until a job listing prompted her jaw to hit her desk: a teaching-focused position back in San Diego. This job, combined with lots of science writing on the side, opened up a host of opportunities for her to give back to the neuroscience community in ways that continue to energize her. Now, her overarching goal is to create spaces for all kinds of students, from South Jersey and beyond.