Early-Career Spotlight: Ashley Gaulding
How Ashley Gaulding Built a Path From Guitar Pedals to Solar Panels
Welcome to the Materials, Chemical, and Computational Science (MCCS) Early-Career Spotlight, a monthly feature showcasing the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) early-career researchers' interests, motivations, and achievements. This month, we are featuring Ashley Gaulding, who has been a researcher at NREL since 2017.
Sometimes Ashley Gaulding feels a bit like an investigator on a television crime procedural.
"If a photovoltaic (PV) module fails to produce power the way it's supposed to, I lay it out on a lab table and dissect it to determine the cause of failure—similar to how a detective examines a body to determine the cause of death," explained Gaulding, who studies PV reliability at NREL's Materials Science Center.
The parallels do not stop there, Gaulding observed. Similar to what is shown on shows like "CSI" or "Bones," Gaulding's investigations involve a large team of experts with a wide range of skills and knowledge. When Gaulding or a member of her team gets a hunch, they collect evidence to support or disprove it. As they investigate, they combine their expertise to develop new techniques and reveal new insights.
It is a unique take on advanced energy research, from someone who took a unique path to her current role.
A Balance of Art and Science
Growing up in Dallas, Texas, as the oldest of four children, Gaulding was drawn to science from a young age.
"The scientists on shows like 'NOVA' or 'National Geographic' were my childhood heroes," Gaulding recalled. "Neither of my parents were scientists or engineers, but I was very fortunate that they made a conscious effort to nurture my siblings' and my interests."
Gaulding had an artistic side as well, which sometimes conflicted with her scientific inclinations. In high school, she had to choose between taking Advanced Placement (AP) Art and AP Physics. She chose AP Physics but also played guitar and sang in a band. In college at the University of Texas at Austin, she majored in radio, television, and film and studied sound engineering, which led to her first career designing, manufacturing, and repairing effects pedals for guitars.
"Effects pedals are typically small boxes, powered by a 9-volt battery, that connect to the guitar at one end and the amplifier at the other," Gaulding explained. "The musician can then customize a near-endless combination of sounds by pressing the pedals with their foot as they play."
Gaulding first worked for a small company in Minneapolis, later launched her own, and spent a decent chunk of her early 20s rubbing shoulders with big names in music.
"It was great fun at the time," Gaulding reminisced. "I got to hang out backstage with bands like Muse and Nine Inch Nails to demo our pedals."
Gaulding Learns a New Tune
Eventually, however, Gaulding began to question the long-term viability and wider impact of her then career path. Around that time, she came across an issue of Scientific American that inspired her to change course.
"It was a special issue that highlighted all these innovative new energy technologies," Gaulding said. "I thought, ‘This is how I can apply my problem-solving skills and creative energy to make a real difference for humanity.' It was like an epiphany."
Gaulding decided to get a second bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. She enrolled at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, where she took her math and science requisites before transferring to the University of Minnesota. There, she connected with engineering professor Eray Aydil, who invited her to work in his lab for a summer. As the summer drew to a close, Aydil encouraged Gaulding to explore other internship opportunities to broaden her experience.
"I came across the Science Undergrad Laboratory Internship (SULI) program and saw that NREL was one of the participating labs," Gaulding said. "I thought, ‘Wow! There's an entire lab whose mission is the same as mine!' I anxiously applied and was thrilled when I found out I had been selected."
For two summers, Gaulding worked with NREL researcher Todd Deutsch and research fellow John Turner in the field of photo-electrochemistry, which is the study of how light interacts with chemical reactions.
"The science was exciting," Gaulding said. "On top of that, my mentors' genuine enthusiasm reinforced my sense that NREL was the place to be."
Gaulding held onto that instinct as she completed her Bachelor of Engineering in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in materials science engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. After that, she spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she studied how photonic crystals can be coupled with plasmonic nanocrystals to better convert molecular carbon dioxide into useful fuels like methanol, ethanol, or formic acid.
Then, Gaulding was awarded the NREL Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship, which allowed her to transfer to NREL and shift her postdoc work to quantum materials and perovskites—key ingredients for solar power and energy storage and conversion. Through a bit of networking, Gaulding turned that fellowship into a full-time position as an NREL researcher.
"Transitioning from a postdoc to staff, especially in the same field, requires a lot of stars to align," Gaulding explained. "I asked my Director's Fellowship mentor, NREL Senior Research Fellow Joey Luther, if he knew of any opportunities. He came back with an opening for a temporary position in NREL's PV reliability group."
The role pivoted from Gaulding's postdoc work but was still in the field of photovoltaics, and it offered opportunities to collaborate with owners of real power systems, so Gaulding applied and got the job.
"Eventually, the stars did align for me, and I competed for and landed the full-time, regular-term position I have today," Gaulding said.
Lab-Based Research for Real-World Problems
Gaulding began her career at NREL building tiny experimental solar cell and photo-electrochemical devices. Currently, she studies PV reliability—ensuring solar panels last as long as possible and keep working efficiently over time—and materials efficiency, which focuses on reducing waste. She not only conducts hands-on, small-scale research and development in the controlled setting of the lab; she also collaborates with utility companies that run solar power applications at a massive scale.
"The lab-based research and the real-world collaborations have been a rewarding experience that is unique to NREL," Gaulding said. "My work lets me be both a scientist and an engineer: As a scientist, I get to scratch my itch for discovery. As an engineer, I get to solve immediate, practical problems. I get to do both at the same institution."
In addition to the multifaceted flexibility of her work, Gaulding enjoys feeling like a crime show detective: collaborating with experts and using a data-driven approach to tackle timely problems.
"My team recently visited a utility PV plant where some modules experienced unexplained glass breakage," Gaulding said. "We brought several modules back to the lab, where we worked to understand the cause and prevent future occurrences. We also published a technical report summarizing the factors that contributed to the issue. It's pretty special to be in a position where, when things go wrong, the industry looks to my team for answers."
New Ways To Rock Out
Another perk about working at NREL? Occasionally working alongside her husband Axel Palmstrom, a fellow NREL researcher who studies thin-film solar technologies.
"He's still in the perovskite space, which I still dabble in here and there," Gaulding said. "We've even coauthored a few papers."
After meeting as NREL postdocs, both are now full-time researchers and have two children and two dogs. Outside NREL, they enjoy hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, and rock collecting. The two joined the Colorado Mineral Society to go on field trips where they dig for fossils and minerals, and they even filed their own mining claim on Mount White to prospect for aquamarine.
"We try to integrate our kids into the activities we love, and it has been rewarding to see them discover and enjoy activities along with us," Gaulding said. "With more extreme activities that our kids are still too young for, my husband and I alternate on childcare so we both have time to do what we enjoy."
A Unique Journey Lays a Foundation for Success
Looking back, Gaulding observed that her meandering career path served her in unexpected but significant ways. For example, in her previous career designing and creating guitar pedals, she spent a lot of time soldering, building, and troubleshooting electronics. As a result, she arrived in the photovoltaics field with skills and experience that directly applied to her new line of work.
"My previous career provided experiences I wouldn't have had if I'd gone straight from high school, to college, to a Ph.D. program, to research," Gaulding said. "Thanks to those experiences, I have practical, hands-on skills that I picked up outside the lab setting but that also come in handy in the lab."