Scissor-Kicks on Titan

Ashley L. Walker studies the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune. As a graduate student, she works with her faculty advisers to figure out the chemistry and physics of the clouds that cover these giant planets. She uses computer models to simulate the dynamics of the atmospheres, and soon she’ll start a lab-based project to repli-cate exoplanetary atmospheres for experiments.

Ashley also runs two organizations—Black in Astro and Black in Chem—plus she helped start a third called Black in Physics. She and her co-organizers host events such as Black Space Week, plan gatherings at large scientific conferences, and raise money for travel grants for students.

—Anne Hylden

This interview was edited for length and clarity. 

Did you always know you would  become a scientist?

I wanted to be Beyonce’s choreographer. That did not work out.

During high school, I was a background dancer for up-and-coming Chicago rappers. When I went to college, I wanted to have my own business at the same time—my own dance studio. Since I was working, I was always dropping in and out of community college, so it took me a bit longer to get through.

I was studying chemistry, because I wanted to be a forensic toxicologist. I wanted to help solve crimes. So when I ran out of money, I applied for a scholarship for incoming chemistry and physics majors at CSU. I got it, and I was really happy. The scholarship propelled me, in a sense, because I had never won things like that during high school. That definitely made a huge impact on what I’m doing today.

How did you end up in the space sciences?

At CSU, I was talking to the chemistry adviser. We walked past a NASA poster, and I said it’d be cool to intern at NASA, but I didn’t want to work there for real. She directed me to this woman who studies galaxies and galaxy clusters, and it went from there. There was no more forensics after that.

I did a workshop at an observatory in West Virginia. That was my one and only observing experience; I will never go back to it again. I like my rest. You have to stay up all hours of the night for certain weeks, and I don’t have the capacity for it.

I did an internship at Harvard University’s Center for Astrophysics with a scientist who studies planet formation, where I got some modeling experience. After that, I did another internship at Johns Hopkins University, where I got my footing for planetary atmospheres doing a lot of aerosol work in the lab.

When I graduated, I didn’t get into grad school the first round. A mentor suggested I apply for post-baccalaureate research positions. Well, my earlier comment about not working for NASA came back and bit me, because NASA selected me to study ice clouds on Titan for a summer. I reapplied to grad school, and now I’m a fourth-year doctoral student at Howard University.

What’s it like being in graduate school for astrochemistry?

Grad school is extremely hard work. You have to juggle so many things. But the fun thing about it is that you get to travel for conferences.

What’s so interesting about the atmospheres of other planets?

Neptune and Uranus rain diamonds. That’s my favorite fact. My adviser won me over with that because he’s having me study this smelly gas. Uranus and Neptune are full of hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs. So I asked, ‘why?’ And then he said, ‘well, it rains diamonds’ and I was like, ‘OK—sold.’

Neptune is a cosplayer. Which is why my hair is blue! The planet is this actual color, and then my ends are white because of the clouds on Neptune and Uranus.

Saturn’s moon, Titan, has methane and ethane lakes and rivers. And the atmosphere is so dense, you can actually fly. You just take two cardboard boxes, do the moonwalk bounce, and flap and fly away. If you decide you want to get into a fight with someone on Titan, just flap your wings and scissor-kick them and that’s it! You win the fight!

Is there any advice you have for high school students studying science?

I think they should always explore everything that they like. It’s funny how I became an astrochemist, because I was set on a different path, and it just led me here. I feel like I’ve had multiple careers in my lifetime.

w What first got you interested in space?My uncle bought me a ruby red telescope when I was five. I wanted my parents to buy me a star out of the sky, but they said that wasn’t possible. And I said, why? And then I remember visiting the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, where they had an exhibit where you could test your weight on different planets, when I was about 10.

Do you think you’ll ever get to go to space?

I am too small to go to space. I’m only 4'8"—there’s an actual height and weight requirement.