Alex was an undergraduate research assistant and a member of the Vagelos Scholars program in the Molecular Life Science from 2014-2018. He has spent two summers working at the Carnegie Institution for Science on various projects involving thermophilic cyanobacteria.

He graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts in Biochemistry and Biophysics, as well as a Master's of Science in Chemistry. He earned the ACS Undergraduate Award in physical chemistry for his outstanding work in the program. Alex is currently in the Ph.D. program at UCSD.