Ashton is from California, and got his MS and BS from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in spring 2022. There he worked with Prof. Paula Diaconescu on a range of organometallic polymer catalysis and applications and with Prof. Amy Rowat on cultured meat. Ashton joined the Swager lab in fall of 2022 and is co-advised by Prof. Alexander Radosevich as a graduate student in inorganic chemistry.