For Alex Kingston, assistant professor of biological sciences in The University of Tulsa’s Oxley College of Health & Natural Sciences, it all traces back to a love of the ocean. A childhood dream to be a marine biologist, a frank conversation with her father, and a chance opportunity with a future mentor helped Kingston find her way into academia. Recently, she sat down to tell us all about it.
What made you want to study biological science? What drove you to a career in academia?

As a child, I had a deep love of the ocean. My family traveled frequently to Hawaii where my dad was born, and we spent a lot of time in the water. I was obsessed with dolphins. At 5, I proclaimed that I would be a marine biologist. That persisted for a while but eventually in high school I explored other career ideas including teaching and medicine. One day early in college, I had a very frank conversation with my dad, a physician, about the realities of being a doctor. It drove real exploration into what a career in medicine would look like. By my sophomore year in college, I decided that medicine probably wasn’t for me. Also, I wasn’t a great student. I was a good student, but I wasn’t outstanding. At about the same time, I was advised to explore undergraduate research. I interviewed in about five labs before joining a lab that studied optical, physiological, and behavioral aspects of butterfly coloration (among other subjects). My undergraduate research mentor was such a wonderful human being, and he did great research. He taught me so much about research, not just about butterflies, and he really let me get my feet wet in handling the projects, collecting animals in the field, and helping write papers. He really trusted me. By the end of my first summer working in his lab, I decided to think about going to graduate school. That year, my undergraduate research adviser hosted a visiting professor who was giving a seminar at our university. This was how I met my Ph.D. adviser. By the end of undergraduate, I was all in on a career in academia.
What do you enjoy about being a professor? What is it about teaching that motivates you, in addition to your research work?
My favorite thing about being a professor is asking questions. I get to come up with questions – think/learn/explore ways to test/ask those questions – and then actually answer them. There’s a high failure rate, but we never ever fail to learn something. Those lessons steer us and our questions. One of the things I like most about teaching is trying to convince students that we are still finding answers to questions. I teach the students what we know, but I also lead them to the edge of what we know and talk about all the related things that researchers are still trying to understand and learn. Research is kind of similar. I literally discover things. We don’t ask questions that have already been answered. We ask questions about the unknown. And we do our absolute best to provide an answer that is objective and supported by real, hard data.
What was it about the university that made you want to teach here?
Like many other folks in academic research, the time came during my postdoc to start applying for jobs. I applied to many. I got multiple job offers. In the end, I chose Tulsa because people seemed really happy here, there was a sense of autonomy, and the department really encouraged making this position what you want it to be.
What has your experience been like in the classroom and on campus interacting with students and faculty?
I arrived Aug. 1, 2020. (The pandemic) was a tough time. Doors were literally closed, students weren’t in the classroom, and I was trying to figure out how to be a professor. That said, my first class was full of such great students. We had so much fun that first semester. And things have improved so immensely ever since. One of the fun things about UTulsa is that it is small. I have never been a part of a small university. I attended and worked at huge universities, and I was worried that UTulsa would feel too small. But, walking around campus, seeing students, staff, and faculty I know, and chatting with folks I don’t see all the time, is so much better than seeing a bunch of anonymous faces.
In your research, you investigate the neurobiology and sensory physiology behind invertebrate behavior. What is it about this research that interests you? What project are you currently working on in your research?
My research has taken two diverging paths, which is part of what makes it fun and exciting. Sometimes, we’re working on a series of questions that leads to an entirely different series of questions in an entirely different field. That’s what has happened in my research. I was trained as a visual ecologist. This means that we sought to learn how animals use their visual systems to interact with their environments. How do these visual systems work? What do they see or not see? Why are they different from other visual systems? I did a lot of research in that and related fields, and I still do. We still study the visual systems of animals, primarily marine invertebrates, specifically snapping shrimp. As my Ph.D. adviser said, “if it has eyes, we can study it.” My lab takes that approach as well. Along the way, while studying the visual systems of snapping shrimp, we got curious about why they have a helmet that no other crustaceans have. That question, that curiosity, led us to a whole new field. Now, in addition to visual ecology, we study biological armor and the mitigation of blast-induced neurotrauma by this special biological armor. That’s to say, we study how snapping shrimp helmets keep them from getting brain damage when they’re exposed to shock waves. This is a mixture of engineering, neurophysiology and neuroanatomy, materials science, psychology, neuroscience, and other fields. It’s a wild ride, and I can’t wait to keep asking questions about this system.
What advice would you give to UTulsa students, specifically students hoping to pursue a career in the biological sciences?
Do research. Find a lab where you get to do research that interests you. Find something that really excites you and dive in.
What do you enjoy doing besides research and teaching? Do you have any hobbies or activities you like to do?
I love to travel. Exploring new places is so exciting. I often need a vacation after my vacations because it’s so busy the entire time.