David Alexander is a professor of astrophysics at Rice University and a Rice faculty scholar at the Baker Institute. Alexander also serves as the director of the Rice Space Institute. Alexander was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by her majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June 2018 for services to the space industry, received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2004, and was appointed a Kavli Frontiers Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences in 2006. He is former chair of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society and has served on many professional committees including the NASA Advisory Council’s Heliophysics Subcommittee and the NASA Solar Heliospheric Management and Operations Working Group. He has been named a GlobalScot by the Scottish government and was an elected member of the board of directors of the American Astronautical Society from 2018–22. He served as chair of the inaugural Aerospace and Aviation Industry Committee of the Greater Houston Partnership, has been on the board of directors of the Houston Spaceport Development Corporation since 2021, and was recently appointed to the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium Executive Committee. 

Alexander received his Bachelor of Science in natural philosophy and astronomy, and his astrophysics doctorate from the University of Glasgow.

Contact at [email protected] or 713-348-3633.