Stephon Alexander '93, currently an assistant professor of physics and astrophysics at Penn State University, has won, along with seven other candidates, a place in the National Geographic Emerging Explorers Class for 2006. The Emerging Explorers each receive a $10,000 award to help with their ongoing research. In Alexander's case, that involves the interface between early universe cosmology and the quantum theory of gravity. (In his spare time, he plays the tenor sax.)

Alexander, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, grew up in the Bronx, New York, and came to Haverford in 1989 to concentrate in physics. He got his doctorate at Brown in 2000, specializing in theoretical cosmology and Superstring theory. He completed two post-doctoral qualifications at Imperial College, London, England, and at Stanford's Linear Accelerator Center and Institute for Theoretical Physics, in California.

In his work at Penn State, Alexander focuses on the interface between early universe cosmology and gravitational theory.

Other Emerging Explorers for 2006 include environmental anthropologist and underwater cave explorer Kenny Broad, of Miami; archaeological oceanographer Katy Croff, Narragansett, R.I.; geographer Maria Fadiman, Boca Raton, Fla.; social studies teacher and author Joseph Lekuton, of McLean, Va.; climate change author Mark Lynas, Oxford, England; adventure photographer Bobby Model, Nairobi, Kenya; and gender anthropologist Losang Rabgey, of Washington, D.C.

The Emerging Explorers program is supported by Microsoft and the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation.