Ashton Aleman | Student Spotlight
Ashton Aleman
PhD Candidate
Chemical Engineering
Jaramillo Lab
"I would not be the person I am today without the support and encouragement of my high school teachers, who saw potential in me that I was unable to see in myself. Given how monumental their support was in shaping my career aspirations, I have committed myself to play the same role for younger students by broadening their horizons to the endless possibilities that their futures hold. For the past two years, I have served as a co-director for the Stanford Summit Tahoma Expeditions Program (SSTEP), which is an annual program dedicated to offering local underserved high school students valuable STEM opportunities through hands-on exposure via research shadowing at Stanford. For SSTEP, my team and I have successfully introduced approximately 45 students from two local high schools to a variety of STEM disciplines, many of whom attribute their decision to pursue STEM or attend college largely to the program. In addition to providing research shadowing opportunities, we also help the students develop transferable skill sets by designing and leading various activities and workshops. From my personal experience, I was not aware of the chemical engineering profession until I was a junior in high school, when another student casually mentioned it to me—now, I am pursuing my PhD in chemical engineering. Because of this, along with witnessing the positive impact that SSTEP has had on students’ futures, I strive to expand the program to additional schools in the community throughout my PhD, because even if just one student discovers a new STEM career path, I will have fulfilled my mission.
My research, education, and the people who have supported me through it have not only changed my life but also transformed how I view my ability to make a significant impact in the world. Working on technical challenges at the intersection of climate and energy has shown me just how important—and possible—it is to help secure a better future for our planet and its inhabitants. During my PhD, I have worked towards addressing the durability challenges present in sustainable energy technologies, with the goal of accelerating the design and development of more robust and affordable devices. However, the development of such devices is often hindered by a limited understanding of how materials within them degrade and consequently lead to device failure. To understand material degradation, I have developed an experimental platform that assesses unstable materials currently employed in devices, with an emphasis on cobalt-based materials. Since cobalt is an unethically sourced material, my work additionally aims to identify ways to stabilize cobalt within devices to avoid further unethical sourcing practices. Thanks to my experimental platform (which can be applied to other materials), I have identified new conditions under which cobalt is stable, as well as material combinations that result in significantly improved cobalt stability—both of which can be leveraged to promote strategies for prolonged cobalt utilization. In addition to identifying new routes to stabilize cobalt, I have grown passionate about raising awareness regarding current material sourcing practices and aim to further the contributions of my research by collaborating with public policymakers to address such socioeconomic and humanitarian injustices.
As a researcher, I also strive to provide mentorship to the next generation of scientists, as I believe that good mentorship is crucial in fostering a sense of belonging (and continuation) within an academic program. As a result, I have dedicated a significant amount of my PhD to mentoring younger researchers, including junior PhD students in my research group, undergraduates through the ChemE REU program, incoming PhD students through Summer FIRST, and numerous high school students through SSTEP. Through mentoring these students, I have had the privilege of directly supporting and instilling confidence in them during the early stages of their research careers, while contributing to their growth and development into independent researchers.
After my PhD, I aspire to become a professor with my own research group, where we will tackle numerous sustainability challenges while improving the ways in which current energy materials are sourced. Through empathy-driven mentorship and teaching, I additionally strive to bring the same care and support to my research group that my high school teachers gave me—reminding each member that they are a person before anything else and that no one has to face challenges alone."
