Alex grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. She attended Hamilton College, graduating Cum Laude in 2010 with a concentration in Comparative Literature and a minor in Geosciences. After college, she served as a corps member with City Year in a third grade classroom in southeast Washington, D.C. She then moved to Vermont to work for Putney Student Travel, organizing and leading travel programs for high school students. In December 2014 she graduated from NYU's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting program (SHERP). She was a fellow in the National Press Foundation's cancer reporting program in January 2016. Alex is a fluent (but not native) Spanish speaker. When she's not delving into science, Alex enjoys hiking, traveling, and trying new foods.