Alex Hangsterfer, Geological Collections Manager

Alex received her BA from Roger Williams University in Environmental Chemistry and Biology, with a minor in Philosophy. Alex interned and worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution before coming to Scripps in 2005 to pursue a graduate degree. She received her Masters from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, with a focus on methane hydrate biogeochemistry.

She was hired in June 2009 to manage the Geological Collections. Besides overseeing the geological collections, filling sample requests, managing the collections databases and managing collections website, she is also an x-ray technician, operating the Avaatech XRF core scanner. Alex supports multi-disciplinary research projects with students, post-docs, and researchers from academic and governmental institutions across the world. Alex engages in numerous outreach activities each year that include lab tours, in-person & virtual classroom talks, work with Birch Aquarium, San Diego Youth Science and more. She is passionate about communicating science in an understandable way that will draw in the next generation of scientists and excite the general public about the research being done at Scripps.

Alex has also worked to support the efforts of the GEOPATHS project over the last several years. The project’s goal is to recruit and retain underserved students into the geosciences and engage them in at-sea and classroom/lab research. You can learn more at geopaths.ucsd.edu.