Headshot of Ashley Juavinett.

Ashley Juavinett

Associate teaching professor of neurobiology
University of California, San Diego

Ashley Juavinett is associate teaching professor of neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego, where she also co-directs STARTneuro, a program funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Blueprint Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education Experiences. Through her work and writing, she seeks to understand the best ways to train the next generation of neuroscientists. A significant part of this effort is building resources to make such training accessible and more effective.

Juavinett completed her Ph.D. with Edward Callaway at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, investigating the cell types and circuits underlying visual perception in mice. She then conducted postdoctoral research with Anne Churchland at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, advancing ethological approaches to understanding behavior as well as cutting-edge ways of recording from freely moving animals.

Juavinett is the author of “So You Want to Be a Neuroscientist?” an accessible guide to the field for aspiring researchers, and she has previously written for the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain.

Explore more from The Transmitter

a funnel collects falling images and objects related to various fields of neuroscience

AI can’t solve the brain without data that fit together

The brain's first foundation models exist because some areas of neuroscience did the slow work of developing and adopting standards to help integrate data. Artificial intelligence cannot do that work for us.

By Sean Hill
29 June 2026 | 8 min read

Queerying neuroscience: How legislation and institutions reframe LGBTQIA+ researchers’ careers

In honor of Pride Month, The Transmitter spoke with three researchers who surveyed hundreds of LGBTQIA+ neuroscientists to better understand how institutional support, harassment and policy intersect to shape their professional trajectories.

By Paige Miranda
29 June 2026 | 0 min watch
Avis Cohen.

Remembering Avis H. Cohen, who bridged disciplines to decode lamprey locomotion

The founding director of the University of Maryland’s Neuroscience and Cognitive Science program brought neuroscience, math and engineering together.

By Sarah Thau
26 June 2026 | 8 min read