Ashley Brooke McCowin
Undergraduate Student
About Ashley
Ashley is from Phoenix, Arizona where she attended Mountain Pointe High School. She is a second year at the university and is pursuing a B.S. in chemistry on the chemical biology track. After finishing higher education, she plans on pursuing a career in forensic science.
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In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, weightlifting, beach volleyball, music, crocheting, and reading. She is inspired by her family and their work ethic.
Education
B.S. Chemistry (Chemical Biology Track), University of Chicago, Expected graduation 2027
Favorite Quote
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
- Shirley Chisholm
Scientific Hero
Alice Ball, an African American chemist who developed the “ball method” for making ethyl ester derivatives of chaulmoogra oil, which was used to treat leprosy during the early 20th century. She was the first woman and African American to receive a master’s degree from the University of Hawai’i, as well as the university’s first female and African American chemistry professor.
Favorite Paper
Pena, M. M., Stoiloff, S., Sparacino, M., Compo, N. S. (2024). The effects of cognitive bias, examiner expertise, and stimulus material on forensic evidence analysis. Wiley Online Library. Volume 69, Issue 5. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1556-4029.15565
If you could be a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?
Rotavap
Ashley's Research
Ashley works under María Román, a graduate student in the lab, on María’s project. They work on the synthesis of small molecule immunomodulators for vaccines, and they formulate them, so they can be used with adjuvants to fine-tune the body’s immune response to vaccines.