Ashley developed a love for conservation in the hills and rivers of western Pennsylvania, where she was born and raised. She pursued her B.S. in Animal Biotechnology and Conservation at Delaware Valley University, taking positions in education, outreach, and resource management in South Carolina, Vermont, and Alaska along the way. She furthered her education at The University of Tennessee, where she received her M.S. researching northern bobwhite habitat selection on reclaimed surface coal mines in Kentucky. Her interests in animal movement and responses to anthropogenic disturbances continued while pursuing her Ph.D at Oklahoma State University, where she studied habitat selection and movement patterns of lesser prairie-chickens on private rangelands in western Oklahoma. Prior to joining the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Ashley worked as the Deputy Science Coordinator for the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program, which is committed to addressing an array of conservation challenges facing threatened and endangered species in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico.
Ashley’s interests are wide-ranging, but include conservation education and outreach, landscape ecology, habitat selection, upland gamebird ecology, and socio-ecological systems.