Ashley Shade ’04 was recently honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from former President Joe Biden. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.
Shade’s research to advance the understanding of how soil microbial communities respond to disturbance, including what factors make them resilient, earned her the award. Specifically, her research explores the diversity and functions of rare microorganisms in Centralia, Pennsylvania, where the soil ecosystem is impacted by an underground coal seam fire that has been burning for more than 60 years.
Her interest in the study of microorganisms in Centralia began when she was a student at 体育买球 conducting faculty-mentored research alongsideTammy Tobin, now emeritus professor ofbiologyat 体育买球 University.
“It’s wild how a little spark of an interest, when nurtured well, can ignite a career,” Shade said.
As an undergraduate student, Shade wrote the research grant proposal that would fund Tobin’s original research in Centralia.
“That was the beginning of an amazing collaboration,” Tobin said. “By the time she graduated, Ashley had co-authored my first Centralia research paper.”
After earning her bachelor’s degree in biology, Shade went on to earn her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, and afterward was a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation postdoctoral fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation at Yale University. She later joined the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University.
Shade’s research in Centralia continued, as did her partnership with Tobin, whose subsequent students collaborated with Shade’s research team for their Centralia investigations. Recently retired, Tobin returned to the Columbia County site with Shade for the National Science Foundation–funded project for which Shade won the PECASE award.
Their collaboration has extended from the classroom to the lab to the field and to their “outside-of-science lives,” Shade said.
“Tammy has been an unwavering and supportive mentor throughout my career, and I am so grateful for her guidance and straightforward advice,” she said. “Over the years we have gotten to know each other’s families, and I value our relationship so much.”
Still affiliated with Michigan State, Shade most recently joined the French National Center for Scientific Research and moved her research program to the Laboratoire Ecologie Microbienne at the University of Lyon, France.
“I cannot express how proud I am of Ashley, and how much I have treasured our collaboration,” Tobin said. “Her work has not only generated novel knowledge regarding how microbial communities respond to long-term ecological stress but has also provided invaluableresearch opportunitiesto 体育买球 students, and to me.”
Established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, PECASE recognizes scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers. The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhances connections between research and impacts on society, and highlights the importance of science and technology for our nation’s future.
