Black Excellence: Ashley Blackwell

Welcome to “Black Excellence” at UIC.      

The Office of Student Success and Belonging, with Dr. Aisha El-Amin.       

Recording of Dr. Martin Luther King 00:09      

[Applause] Believe in yourself and believe that you’re somebody.      

Clips from 1995 movie “Panther” 00:17      

His intention is that we study and master a bunch of different things.   
Why are you here?       
Study and master a bunch of different things.     
I’m proud to introduce our new minister of information.     

Aisha El-Amin 00:26      

I’m Dr. Aisha El-Amin.      

Tariq El-Amin 00:29      

Welcome to “Black Excellence.”  

Aisha El-Amin  00:36 

In this episode of the “Black Excellence” podcast, we speak to physicist-turned-engineer, and the first to earn a PhD from UIC’s quantum program, Ashley Blackwell. 

From earning her PhD as a mom, in the lab to setbacks and a legendary comeback, her story is all about resilience, reinvention and authenticity. Ashley begins today’s episode sharing about where she’s from and the ups and downs that led her to where she is today. 

Ashley Blackwell  01:11 

So, initially, so I’m from Houston, Texas, born and raised. Half my life I spent in New Orleans, Louisiana. All of my family’s from Louisiana. Everybody. I have real deep roots. All of I-10.  

And so, growing up, you know, I have both my mom and my dad. My dad did pass away when I was 13, though. So for the majority of my life, I’ve been raised by a single mom. And so, you know, the highest education they had, like, my mom has, went and got her master’s, and I was along for that ride. Me and my sister. I have one sibling.  

So my dad’s highest education is one year at Southern University, and that was it. So what I’ve seen growing up was that, you know, my mom — and I don’t remember it, but I think it was just embedded in me — like, my mom was in school my whole babyhood. And so for me to now have experienced the same thing with my own children, because they’ve been literally on this journey since in the womb, when I first started my PhD, you know, I think I kind of internalized that.  

So after high school, you know, I took one physics class. So mind you, my PhD is in electrical and computer engineering. I was initially a physicist, so my bachelor’s is in physics. So I started my PhD as a physicist. But then there’s a story of how that even happened, how I even ended up at UIC, because I was at Howard. I was a Howard graduate student. I just somehow, in the middle of that PhD, ended up at UIC. Another story. 

Aisha El-Amin  02:34 

Oh, I gotta hear that one, too. 

Ashley Blackwell  02:37 

And that’s the main part of it, even how I got here, which is such a blessing. But, you know, in high school, I had one physics class, and it was enjoyable. But I never saw myself actually doing that, you know? I was like, “Oh, this is cool. This is fun. It’s intriguing. But do I really like math?” I was good at math, but I didn’t, say, like it enough to be like, “Oh yeah, I’m going to do this for the rest of my life.”  

And so when I started, so I went to the illustrious Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and during that time, I was a nursing major, and I was quickly trying to pivot to something.  

You know, I had the queen, the Miss Dillard, at the time in 2012, you know. She was a physics major at Dillon. I was like, “Oh, she’s so fabulous. I want to run from Miss Dillard.” So I was like, “Let me go make friends with her.” One thing about me, I’m an extrovert. I’m going to put myself in positions to talk to who I need to talk to get to where I need to be, always. I’ve always been that way since I was a kid.  

And so I went up to her like, “You’re fabulous, you’re beautiful and you’re a physics major. Can you tell me more about that?” And boy, was she excited to meet me. Just because I took the initiative, she took me right on over to the physics department. I met my then advisor, Dr. Darwish, and he changed my life forever.  

And so when I was at Dillard, I participated in the lab. I did a lot of condensed-matter physics research, laser ablation research. I had no idea what any of this was prior to that, right? It took me taking the first step with my own beliefs, I guess, to make that initiative and be like, you know, this is actually pretty cool outside of the money, because, obviously, it was well paid. But, you know, I put in the work in my undergraduate years to really stand out, because I know — although that this, this, you know, this profession is fruitful — there’s a lot of competition. So not only can you be smart, it takes more than just being smart and being good at math and physics.  

And so I did the conferences, I did the internships, I wrote papers. You know, I’ve done a lot that it’s hard to come across in your undergraduate years. So to me, I was the best. Even my advisor, he’ll tell you. He tells me all the time I was the best. I was the only girl that graduated in my class.  

Aisha El-Amin  04:40 

So, you’re the only girl. But you, you began to love it, though, too, right? So you, you initially were interested, piqued your interest of OK, I want, I want to earn some money. Look, yeah, no, no shade in that. But how did this love of it, this, you know, this joy come from it, too? 

Ashley Blackwell 4:58 

I think the joy really came from just the community around it. Because once I was, you know, doing the things in the lab. First of all, the lab is very intriguing. When you’re actually in a lab, touching very expensive components and setting up lasers and doing these things — you see this stuff in movies. And I think that was the intriguing part that made me start to love it. And I started to love it even more is when I participated in conferences.  

I found my community. Because Dillard is small. I was the only girl, literally, in my, in my graduating class. And so I really enjoyed conferences because that’s when I started meeting other Black women doing what I’m doing, who are also a good time, extroverted, not all of them, but most of them. I bring it out of them, OK. I have a lot of friends that are not extroverted. But then when I come around to these conferences, I was the life of the party. 

Aisha El-Amin  5:45 

Give the audience some of, some of what are the conferences? Like, if you could name two, one looking to really be in STEM and make that networking and connection and show their research, what would be some of the top ones you would recommend? 

Ashley Blackwell  6:00 

I think, so it starts, so they have small ones and they have big ones. So at the time, I was doing anything from local, regional and then national. So I’d say for younger undergrads to start locally. So there’s usually research competitions and presentations that you can give at your own university. You start there, right? Because that just gives you the feel of how to present, how to, because you’re, you’re a brand. I myself am a brand in science. And other undergraduates, or anyone in, you know, pursuing science realizes, after time, you are your own brand. So therefore you need to learn how to public speak. You know, that starts in high school.  

And so once you do these little local to your university-style conferences, then you start thinking, OK, regionally, let me go to the next university over and give my talk over there, right? That starts to build the confidence. And not only are you building confidence in networking, you’re also having the opportunity to win, because some of these are actual competitions, not only networking, but actual poster presentation competitions, oral presentation conferences, competitions.  

And then nationally, I’d say some of the bigger ones would be like your Emerging Researchers National Conference. So that is located, well, for the longest it was in D.C., but I think this past year, 2025, it’s usually always in February, every single year. It was in Atlanta, I think. And this is a multidisciplinary conference. So everyone from the nanotechnology to the biological sciences, like, everybody was there. It’s like 4,000 people from everywhere, not just your HBCUs, everywhere. And so I’d say there’s a good few.  

And then there’s your respective national conferences pertaining to your field, right? You have your American Physics Society Conference, March, March meeting, very big. Well, that’s an international conference. Everyone from all over the world goes there, and it’s a privilege to go to that conference to present your work. They have the Astro conference, I forgot what it’s called. But the Astro folks, you know, they have their own conference. The bio folks, the biotech folks, they got their own conference. There is some form that you just have to Google biotechnology conferences, national, boom, and something’s going to pop up. So that’s how it was really interesting and fun.  

Aisha El-Amin  8:11 

I love that. Now you have to tell me, how did you get from Ashley the undergraduate who is, who is making connections, doing conferences to Dr. Blackwell who is the first in the program to graduate from UIC” 

Ashley Blackwell  8:25 

It was a bumpy road. So I decided, so I never thought about doing the PhD, actually. I was like, I’m good, I’m here, you know. But realistically, any pure science undergraduate degree you obtain, it usually needs to be coupled to a graduate degree.  

So I ended up starting at the University of South Florida. Large Research 1 institution, 60,000 people, versus I went to this very small, private, tiny HBCU where it’s mostly girls and maybe 1,000 of us total on campus, like it was like a high school, right? So that was so pivotal, because not only did I not have a community, I was such an invisible person at USF. I was just a number. Because I was having a hard time with graduate classes at that point.  

So low and behold, you know, at that point, I was very defeated. I was not as smart as I thought I was. I wasn’t as great as I thought I was. I was not the best, at that point. And so I failed out. I had a 1.8 GPA, and I failed out. I was done. I was like, this is not for me. And so I took a little call center job in Tampa, Florida, where I was just, like, just trying to survive at that point. So that’s what happened. I failed out miserably, and it was it.  

I’m the type of person that failure does not sit well with me. I don’t know how to process it, because I was so great. I put my best foot forward in high school. I put my best foot forward and then some at undergrad, and then to come to grad school and just realize I am not who I think I was, or at least I thought I was. I’m like, what? What a humbling experience.  

Aisha El-Amin  10:00 

Now  you really have me. You have my interest piqued here. How did you go from failing out to then coming to UIC? I know how it was in there, too. Then coming to UIC and graduating with your PhD and being amongst the first to graduate from that program. 

Ashley Blackwell  10:18 

Right? Crazy. So, so at that point, when I was working this call center I have to put in, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I have two kids. And so not only am I working this little, this little call center job, just doing whatever. I was like, oh god, this is not for me. Like, I need something more. I can’t get money this way.  

So my advisor, I think it was an angel at that point, he reached out to me. He’s like, hey, what are you doing with your life? How was the program? I was like, I was so ashamed to tell him, like, hey, I actually failed out miserably, because it was such a failing moment. And to go from my advisor thinking I was the best, he told me, that’s why I’m not just making this up. He really bumped my head up back then, and it was such, I was so, I was so ashamed to tell him that I failed out.  

He was like, “OK, that didn’t work out. Let’s pivot. So I met a new professor. His name is Dr. Thomas Searles. He is at Howard. I’m going to call him, and you’re going to go work with him.” And I was like, bet, wherever I need to go to get to get back on road.  

And sure enough, I met my now advisor, Dr. Thomas Searles, who is the Black man in quantum computing at this point. He is literally a powerhouse in our field. And at the time, like I say, he was a new professor. He had, like, two grad students. I was his third, literally.  

And so I started at Howard. I moved to D.C. eight months pregnant with my kid’s dad. So I literally hit the ground running at Howard. I started research as soon as I got there. I was in that lab. The engineers were like, “You should not be in this lab. You’re really big.” I was like, “Excuse me, I have things to accomplish, so I will just put my mask on, wear some gloves and my white coat, and I’ll stand to the side. But I need to learn how to operate this machine, so I’ll just stand here quietly.” I was that person.   

Aisha El-Amin  11:59 

It’s interesting you say that because I’ve read where you said that it is mom first. Being a mom is first, and an engineer is second. And, like, talking about how you balance that, I think, is really important for our listeners. 

Ashley Blackwell  12:16 

People need to realize that nontraditional students exist. Technically, I’m traditional in a sense that I’m going to get the degree just like anybody else. But I’m a mother first. I have a baby on my hip, in my stroller. I was able to bring my daughter to class, and I was able to bring her to the lab. I baby-proofed my lab space. I had my playpen. I had toys. I had Bubble Guppies playing on that computer if I needed it. I had bottles. I had, like, I literally made that space my own. And nobody told me otherwise that I couldn’t do it.  

I really struggled. But I went to office hours. I sent emails. I stayed up on all my homework and all my lectures. I went to every office hour to ask questions. That’s one strength that I have is that, again, I always open my mouth. Closed mouths don’t get fed and they don’t get help. So I always made sure when I lacked, I made sure I went, I talked to them. I’m like, “Hey, I did really bad on this homework. I did really bad on this test. What can I do more?” And people respected me for that. So I eventually got through it.  

Aisha El-Amin  13:20 

You went from Howard and you went to UIC. Tell me, tell me that transition and how UIC has impacted your journey as well. 

Ashley Blackwell  13:29 

And so Dr. Searles actually was interviewing. He was bringing in new ideas. He was trying to change the status quo. And Dr. Searles was like, “Well, you know, I am going to be building this $2 million lab at UIC because they’re interested in a quantum-forward style of program.”  

There’s only, maybe, I can count on maybe two hands how many programs throughout the entire U.S. who have an actual degree that is quantum information, quantum engineering, quantum computing-focused. It doesn’t exist. I mean, it does exist now, but it’s very scarce for us that are interested.  

And so that’s why UIC wanted my advisor. So my advisor started that. I’m very proud to be a part of that because he is literally the blueprint of how to increase representation in quantum computing. Because now not only am I doing research and our team is doing great research with IBM’s quantum computers, which are very hard and very expensive to get access to, now he’s expanding it to all the HBCUs on the East Coast and the South. So he did that. 

Aisha El-Amin  14:32 

Nice. And you found yourself finishing the program as the first. And I know that you had many, many lessons throughout that journey. If you can sum up, in a few words, what are the pieces of advice that you would give someone who’s coming behind you from the path that you’ve paved, what they can do to be successful? 

Ashley Blackwell  15:00 

There’s a couple of things I think of. So for one, now that, I think I was the guinea pig for this. Because when my advisor came, there was a lot of shake-up. And so, you know, the advice I would give going forward is that, you know, technically, take quantum computing classes. Take all those classes. Anybody that’s interested in quantum, the basics will be a quantum mechanics class. That is the physics you, I feel is very necessary for understanding the bigger picture of how a quantum computer works. Because, yes, it’s a semiconductor chip, but it works quantum mechanically, and it’s math. 

And then from there, also participating in any quantum lectures. They have a lot of professors who come that quantum or quantum computing-based or quantum information science-based, that come to UIC and get these lectures.  

And then, not only that, but doing the internships. I did every internship possible. I’ve done a lot of things across the quantum computing space to familiarize myself with what is out there. Because, again, there’s no direct path right now to get there. I took it upon myself to create a path.  

So I think that’s also very important when navigating the space that, luckily, you have UIC that has quantum classes and has quantum research. But also pivoting out when you can to talk to other people, to figure out what are you all doing? What is, what is needed? The quantum workforce is not going to be filled because nobody has the technical experience.  

Aisha El-Amin  16:33 

Just from talking to you, I know that you are resilient. I know that a setback is just a lesson and a setup for further success. I know that challenges can come your way, and they have, and you’ve found a way. And I know that you have navigated that all while raising two young people and moving across country more than one time. And so I think those are such great lessons for anyone looking at you, looking up to you and trying to walk in the path that you’ve paved. And so I thank you. Thank you for sharing your story and your journey. I don’t know if you want to give us, give us a little bit of what you’re doing now that would really be great.   

Ashley Blackwell  17:16 

Yeah. So to conclude, you know, right now I’m working at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. I am a electrical engineering patent examiner. So I actually started during the last couple years of my PhD. And so now I examine patent applications in the semiconductor space. I hope to one day go back to law school, become a patent attorney.  My idea going forward, I’m going to end with this, is that if I can become an intellectual property attorney, these people are getting hired by the IBMs and the Microsofts to review their technology and prepare it for the PTO.  

Aisha El-Amin  17:50 

Well, it has been an absolute joy. Dr. Ashley Blackwell joining us for the “Black Excellence” podcast. We wish you all of the best, and we will be applauding you from the sidelines as you continue to soar.  
 

Ashley Blackwell 18:03 

Thank you so much. 

Aisha El-Amin 18:04 

Thank you. 

Announcer   18:06