Aya received her B.S. in biochemistry from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg FL in 2015, where she worked with Prof. Polina Maciecjzyk. After working at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, IN as a biologist, Aya joined the Hergenrother group in the fall of 2016 as a graduate student, where she works on the poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation pathway.