Profile
Donté Alexander Stevens (Alex) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Cell and Developmental Biology section at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Prior to coming to UCSD, Alex attended Washington and Jefferson College where he received a Bachelor of Arts in both Biology and Spanish Literature. He then moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he participated in the National Health Institutes’ Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program in the laboratory of Dr. Jonathan Schisler. At UCSD, Alex works in the Reck-Peterson Laboratory where the research is focused on understanding the spatial and temporal organization of eukaryotic cells through the microtubule cytoskeleton and associated transport machinery. Alex is particularly interested in understanding how pathogens can subvert the intracellular transport machinery to establish successful infections. Alex has been recognized as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellow. Alex has been an active member in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus. Alex and his colleagues successfully rechartered a SACNAS chapter and established the Diversity and Science Lectures Series (DASL) which is a weekly program that celebrates the life journey and cutting-edge science of underrepresented graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Ultimately, Alex intends to pursue a professorship where he can establish a successful research program and continue to foster and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion at whichever institution he finds himself.
