Ashley Hastings is a radiochemist with special interest in f-element chemistry, radiation chemistry, functional porous materials, novel target fabrication for isotope production, and nuclear forensics. Ashley enjoys working with the diverse redox behavior and colors of the actinides and the high stakes of radioactive material handling. She is, however, beginning to appreciate and branch out to other blocks of the periodic table.

Ashley was introduced to the field by participating in the Nuclear and Radiochemistry Summer School at Brookhaven National Lab in 2017. Through connections in that program, she learned about Amy Hixon’s group at Notre Dame and joined as a graduate student in 2018. Her dissertation focused on the synthesis and characterization of actinide metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Towards the end of her PhD, she spent 6 months as an intern at Pacific Northwest National Lab, working on f-element small molecule, coordination compound, and cluster synthesis in the Radiation Processing Lab. Ashley began a postdoctoral appointment at Lawrence Livermore National Lab in the Nuclear and Radiochemistry Group in 2023, focusing on integrating additive manufacturing approaches with target fabrication for charged-particle irradiations. She converted to a staff scientist position at LLNL in 2025 and continues to support various efforts in radiochemistry and non-destructive analysis.

Ph.D., Actinide Chemistry, University of Notre Dame, 2023

B.S., Chemistry, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, 2018

Maxwell, K. J.; Hastings, A. M.; Parsons-Davis, T.; Shusterman, J. A. Polymer-assisted deposition of nanoparticle feedstocks for target fabrication. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 2025, 334 (12), 8999–9006.

Hastings, A. M.; Colliard, I.; Kaseman, D. C.; Colla, C. A.; Deblonde, G. J.-P. Breaking the Neptunyl Barrier: Direct Access to Neptunium(IV) in Aqueous Solution via Polyoxometalate-Mediated Reduction and Stabilization. Inorg. Chem. 2025, 64 (37), 18925–18937.

Hastings, A. M.; Cicchetti, N.; Boro, J. R.; Parsons-Davis, T.; Shusterman, J. A. Synthetic Engineering of Neptunium Oxide Nanoparticles. Nanoscale Adv. 2025, 7 (16), 4848–4851.

Hastings, A. M.; Herrera, S.; Harris, S.; Parsons-Davis, T.; Pascall, A. J.; Shusterman, J. A. Preparation of Monodisperse Cerium Oxide Particle Suspensions from a Tetravalent Precursor. Dalton. Trans. 2024, 53­, 7376–7383.

Hastings, A. M.; Williams, A.; Surbella III, R. G.; Hixon, A. E.; Arteaga, A. Structural characterization of a new Sm(III)—Na(I) heterometallic coordination polymer. Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E: Struct. Rep. Online 2024, 80 (3), 267–270.

Hastings, A. M.; Fairley, M.; Wasson, M. C.; Campisi, D.; Sarkar, A.; Emory, Z. C.; Brunson, K.; Fast, D. B.; Islamoglu, T.; Nyman, M.; Burns, P. C.; Gagliardi, L.; Farha, O. K.; Hixon, A. E.; LaVerne, J. A. Role of Metal Selection in the Radiation Stability of Isostructural M-UiO-66 Metal–Organic Frameworks. Chem. Mater. 2022, 34, 8403–8417.

Hastings, A. M.; Ray, D.; Hanna, S. L.; Jeong, W.; Chen, Z.; Oliver, A. G.; Gagliardi, L.; Farha, O. K.; Hixon, A. E. Leveraging Nitrogen Linkages in the Formation of a Porous Thorium–Organic Nanotube Suitable For Iodine Capture. Inorg. Chem. 2022, 61, 9480–9492.

Hastings, A. M.; Ray, D.; Jeong, W.; Gagliardi, L.; Farha, O. K.; Hixon, A. E. Advancements in Actinide Metal–Organic Framework Chemistry via Synthesis of Pu-UiO-66. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 9363–9371.