After receiving his doctoral education, Alexander held faculty positions at both Penn State and Haverford College. Alexander co-authored a paper in 2012, which reinterpreted Horava-Lifshitz theory. The paper, "Hořava-Lifshitz theory as a fermionic aether in Ashtekar gravity", studied that the HL theory could be naturally occurring. It also theorized that HL gravity could be interpreted as a time-like current, which fills space-time.
Academic life
Alexander started his academic career as a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College, London, and later on went to be a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University's SLAC and Institute for Theoretical Physics. In 2005, he became an assistant professor of physics at Penn State University. In 2008, he served at Haverford College as an associate professor of physics leading to his present positions of Ernest Everett 1907 Associate Professor of Natural Sciences and associate professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. Alexander also works as a professor at Brown University and has spent much of his career as a first generation advocate. He also advocates for historically under-represented groups in the sciences. He is a member of the editorial board of Universe.
Research
In December 2012, Alexander was the co-author of the paper, "Gravitational origin of the weak interaction’s chirality". Focusing on the Lorentz group, the research studied the unification of the electroweak and gravitational interactions and the space-time connection. The paper theorized in similar ways to Plebanski and Ashtekar, those weak interactions on the right-handed chiral half in space-time connection could explain the weak interaction. The theory devised by Alexander and his co-authors was broken down into two phases. The first is a parity symmetric phase, similar to the studies and workings of Speziale. The next phase depends on whether the parity is broken or not. Under the breaking, it shows a Dirac fermion expressing itself as a chiral neutrino. Around the same time, Alexander co-authored another paper, which focused on the study of electric Time in quantum cosmology. The paper formulated and studied new possibilities of quantum behavior of space-time. Alexander has mainly worked to extend Einstein’s theory of curved space-time, taking it to extremes in the connection between the smallest and largest entities in the universe. Being a string cosmology expert, he co-invented the model of inflation called D-Branes. This was based on higher dimensional hypersurfaces in string theory. Alexander has worked as the director of Dartmouth College’s EE Just STEM Scholars Program, volunteered for public speaking in inner city schools, taught mathematics in prisons and monitors activities relevant to his scholarship.
Broadcasting
In February 2013, Alexander wrote in the NY Times, speaking about the need for black academics to set a positive trend for the next generation. In the article, he called upon a number of personal experiences from his own education and life. Alexander has been interviewed or quoted in media sources like the Tavis Smiley Show, Forbes Magazine, NPR, Brian Lehrer Show, Science Salon/Skeptic Society, Downbeat Magazine, and Mercury News.
Music
As a jazz saxophonist, Alexander has been trained by Ornette Coleman and Will Calhoun. His album with Rioux, Here Comes Now, was critically acclaimed. Alexander and bassist Melvin Gibbs formed a group that they named God Particle. Alexander is also the author of The Jazz of Physics, a book that discusses the link between music and the structure of the universe. On a Nova documentary, Alexander was featured discussing his life as a jazz saxophonist, while also working as a physicist during the day.
Personal life
Alexander is a scientist and a jazz saxophonist who has research interests and deeply ponders on the link between small and big things in the universe which is beyond Einstein’s curved space-time and big bang theory. Einstein’s field equation being his favorite equation, his latest publication: “The Jazz of Physics” is a reflection of his research and theories. Indulged with cosmology, he is a hobbyist musician and blows horns while occupying the profession of a physicist. At DeWitt Clinton High School in 10th grade, Alexander’s real-life hero was his physics teacher Mr. Daniel Kaplan who was the reason behind diverting Alexander’s mind towards physics when discussing velocity and friction. In 2006, Dr. Alexander was named as one of the eight National Geographic inquisitive experimenters and explorers.
