James W. Ashley

About James W. Ashley

I am a planetary scientist and systems engineer with a background in consulting hydrogeology and astronomy/geoscience education. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to encounter a variety of work opportunities that fueled my interest in the physical sciences, starting with an 11th grade planetarium internship. I was thereafter motivated to self-fund an education toward a career in planetary science. As with many geoscientists, my path included work in the private sector, where I acquired skills in project management, communication, client, attorney and regulatory agency negotiation, and team leadership both in the office and in the coordination of large field projects. These years encompassed full time consulting hydrogeology managing environmental liability for industrial and commercial stakeholders nationwide, with no two projects being the same. My non-profit asteroid detection company represents a transition from this field back to academia and planetary science. New work introduced me to a variety of geologic sample analytical and remote sensing techniques, which were originally directed toward meteorites and their parent bodies to address pre- and post-solar system cosmochemical processes, and as tools for gauging weathering intensity/exposure history on the martian surface. Continuing on a varied career trajectory, my first postdoc tackled outstanding geomorphic and compositional questions in lunar science with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Cameras at ASU. Here I fine-tuned skills in image processing, remote sensing, geospatial analysis and mapping. This skillset lead into my second postdoc: assisting with landing site selection for the InSight and Mars 2020 Rover/Ingenuity Helicopter missions using ArcGIS and other tools at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. JPL then offered a variety of additional NASA mission-related involvement from engineering science and tactical operations to investigation science and participation in innovative mission proposal concepts. Work at the NASA Mars Program Science Office assisted with functions, decisions and community-building within NASA’s planetary science and human exploration directorates. While serving in these roles I became familiar with extraordinary teams and collaboration methods that further broadened my skillset.

Experience

1. Senior Hydrogeologist Project Manager

   Cherokee Federal

   Sep 2024 — Present

   I serve as lead manager over a contract supporting environmental restoration at 18 United States Army installations for the US Army Environmental Command. Team leadership includes the ongoing management of six installation support engineers and budgetary oversight for work performed at Ft. Greeley, AK, White Sands Missile Range, NM, Ft. Leavenworth, TX, Yakima Training Center, WA, Joint Base Lewis-McCord, WA, Ft. Irwin, CA, Badger Army Ammunition Plant, WI, Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, MN, and others.

Education

• Grand Valley State University

  Bachelor of Science - BS

• Michigan State University

  Master of Science - MS

• Arizona State University

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

• Michigan State University

  Master of Science (M.S.)