Ashley Shade

Ashley L. Shade is a Director of Research with the Institute of Ecology and the Environment of Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Shade is an adjunct associate professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences. She is best known for her work in microbial ecology and plant-microbe interactions.

Education Shade received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Susquehanna University. Her dissertation Shade began her research group at Michigan State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (now the Department of Microbiology, Genetics and Immunology) and the Department of Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences. In 2021, Shade was promoted to associate professor. and a part of the BioMolecular Sciences Graduate Training Program, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, and the Ecology, Evolutionary, and Behavior program at Michigan State University. For example, The Earth Microbiome Project works to collect and analyze microbial samples across the globe. These contributions have contributed to the general understanding of resilience in freshwater, soil and plant-associated microbiomes. and has previously been a guest editor for Phytobiomes Journal.

Selected awards and recognition

2025 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers 2022 European Research Council Consolidator Award 2021 Michigan State University Graduate School Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award to junior faculty 2019: Ecological Society of America Early Career Fellow 2018: United States National Science Foundation CAREER award 2010–2013: Life Sciences Research Foundation Post-doctoral Fellow of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation 2009: University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Bacteriology: Ira L. Baldwin Distinguished Predoctoral Fellowship for Excellence in Research 2008: University of Wisconsin-Madison Anna Grant Birge Award for Limnology Field Work

Selected publications