Alex graduated with an MS in Geography in 2020. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama but grew up in Christiansburg, VA in the southwest part of the state. He graduated Summa cum Laude with degrees in geography and history from Emory & Henry College (VA) in 2017 where he ran cross country. Before coming to UT in 2018, he moved to East Tennessee and worked for just over a year on the GIS team at ORNL in the human dynamics division on the LandScan HD project. 

At UT, Alex studied under Dr. Derek H. Alderman through work on tourism, heritage, food, and the cultural geography of the US South along with critical geographic coursework and professional collaboration with Dr. Solange Munoz. His thesis took a critical geographic approach to quantifying and examining carbon emissions related to Tennessee Volunteer football tourism. His master’s work was published several times, and he served as a graduate teaching assistant for human (and even physical!) geography courses. He fondly remembers his time as a legacy student, Volunteer sports fan, Knoxville resident, and a member of the UTK geography community over the course of his time in East Tennessee. 

Alex now lives in Rockville, Maryland with his spouse Ruthann where he works as the Geospatial Research Analyst for the national nonprofit Child Care Aware of America. There, he conducts spatial and data research to advance equity, access, and quality of child care nationwide along with streamlining and automating GIS and data workflows. He was hired in August of 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he still has never worked a day in the on-site Arlington, Virginia office nor met any of his coworkers or his boss in person! In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, exploring Washington DC’s food and beer offerings, and cheering for his new hometown team in orange, the Baltimore Orioles.