My Personal Journey
Hi, I’m Alex. When I first created this website, I focused this section on my personal identities: athlete, physicist, and engineer. Each one came from a different time period in my life: childhood, college, and career, respectively. Those identities are still present, but I am focusing less on personal identities and more on relational identities: husband, father, and friend.
On paper, I became a husband in 2019 and a father in 2025. However, those identities took time to establish themselves in my psyche. Watching your child be born is an amazing experience, but it doesn’t register the same as the first time you go to pick up your daughter at daycare and she recognizes you and crawls toward you as fast as she can. Similarly, celebrating your one-year anniversary of marriage is very different from watching my grandparents celebrate their 70th.
The infinite games aspect of relational identities makes them very different from my personal identities. I need to take care of my body enough to still be able to run or ski, but that’s about it. Compare that to the continuous communication and effort that it takes to foster and sustain loving relationships. And that is where my focus is now: being the best husband, father, and friend I can be.
I grew up in southern Illinois and attended undergrad at the University of Illinois in Urbana. I majored in engineering physics and minored in philosophy. I then went on to the University of Kansas in Lawrence for my Master’s and PhD. I ended up doing my PhD research in high energy, theoretical astrophysics. After my PhD, I transitioned from academia to industry. My first break was in South Carolina as a project manager for a textbook company. I then moved up the coast to Baltimore to work as an engineer at Northrop Grumman.
While working full time, I went back to school and earned my MBA at the University of Illinois. My wife jokes that I am a professional student. I do enjoy pushing myself and learning new things. I am passionate about using my technical background to guide business decisions to make the world a safer, better place. I am currently a Systems Engineering Manager at Northrop Grumman in Boulder, CO.
I enjoy being active and being outdoors. Therefore, some of my favorite things to do are skiing, road races, hiking, and attending live sports. My favorite outdoor sports experience has no competition; it is watching Kansas City win Super Bowl LIV in Miami. Another great experience was helping to set the Guinness World Record for the loudest indoor sporting event at 130.4 dbA. But my favorite indoor sports experience was watching KU’s triple overtime win over Oklahoma in 2016.
University of Illinois
BS — 2010
Engineering Physics with a minor in Philosophy
MBA — 2021
Business Analytics & Entrepreneurship and Strategic Innovation
University of Kansas
MS — 2012
Physics with a concentration in Cosmology/Quantum Mechanics
PhD — 2017
Physics with a concentration in Astrophysics
Athletic Activities
Marathons
Colfax Marathon — 2025
Flying Pig Marathon — 2025
Boulderthon — 2024
Chicago Marathon — 2021
Chicago Marathon (virtual) — 2020
Kansas City Marathon — 2019
Twin Cities Marathon — 2015
Illinois Marathon — 2015
PRs
Marathon — 3:49:35
Half-Marathon — 1:43:16
Relays
River to River Relay — 2006, 2008, 2010
Free State Tri 100 Relay — 2015
Summits
Mount Lincoln — 14,293’
Mount Evans — 14,265’
Mount Cameron — 14,248’
Mount Bross — 14,178’
Mount Democrat — 14,154’
Mount Sherman — 14,043’
Mount Spalding — 13,842’
North Star Mountain — 13,614’
Haleakalā — 10,023’
Midland Hill — 9,556’
Clingmans Dome — 6,645’
Mount Le Conte — 6,593’
San Gabriel Peak — 6,164’
Hawksbill Mountain — 4,050’
Old Rag Mountain — 3,284’
Mount Wachusett — 2,006’
Mount Lamlam — 1,332’ (37,820’)
Mount Jumullong Manglo — 1,283’
Mount Oread — 1,037’
Skiing
All Seasons
Last Season
Growing up
Teams sports were an integral part of my childhood. In high school I was able to participate in football, basketball, baseball, and track.
Nordic Races
SMR Stampede 50k Ranch Hand — 2022
Stagecoach Classic 15k — 2024