March 19, 2020
Becky Alexander, on her career so far
The UW is credited as the most innovative public university in the nation and it’s not because of the creative ways undergraduates find to avoid studying on the weekends. Research makes the UW function. Literally. Without that funding, we’re not sure if the lights would turn on!
The UW is known for groundbreaking medical research and cutting edge work computer science. That prestige is also seen in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences.
“This department is recognized as being one of the best Atmospheric Science departments,” Becky Alexander, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences. “I consider myself very lucky to have ended up here.”
But it takes more than luck to land a faculty position at a university like the UW. One does not simply wake up one day, and have an office in the Atmospheric Sciences-Geophysics building.
For Alexander, it all started with an interest in air pollution.
“Everytime I came home from the mountains, I would see the Denver Brown cloud,” recalled Alexander.
That interest for air pollution and the overall health of our environment took Alexander from Denver to Colgate University in Upstate New York.
“I wanted to go out of state,” she said. “I come from a low income family and the only way you can get a scholarship is to go to a private school. There’s a lot of private schools in the east.”
After undergraduate, Alexander traded eyelash-freezing weather for graduate school in the So-Cal sunshine at the UCSD.
“After grad school it’s common to do postdoc,” Alexander explained.
Postdoc, or postdoctoral research, is an opportunity for a researcher to do just that– research. This is generally a two to three year temporary position. Alexander returned to the east coast for an Ivy League experience at Harvard.
“I went [to Harvard] because I had a pretty specific plan,” said Alexander. “In grad, I did icicle measurements. I was frustrated by how qualitative the measurements were. I wanted to work with an atmospheric chemistry modeling group and the group at Harvard is one of the best.”
After a more than impressive education, there is an element of luck.
“We don’t hire new faculty every year,” said Alexander. “It is very difficult to get a faculty position anywhere, so one can’t be too picky.”
It’s a case of right place, right time– well, after years and years of crying into textbooks and pulling all-nighters in the lab. Positions crop up when they crop up. It just so happened that a faculty position opened up at the UW at the right time for Alexander to apply.
But the hard work doesn’t stop there. Alexander continues her research through four ongoing research projects (one addressing air pollution in Beijing– not exactly the Denver brown cloud, but close!) on top of her duties as a teacher. Oh, and did I mention she also has a personal life? Alexander is busy, busy, but I think she likes it.
“I’ve been to seminars around the country and around the world,” said Alexander. “There’s been no place I’ve been that I felt was better for me than the UW.”
By Hannah Krieg | The UW Dawgcast
