David E. Alexander grew up in a small town outside Dayton, Ohio—less than 20 miles from the Wright brothers’ home—fueling an early interest in flight of all kinds. He earned a B.S. from the University of Michigan in Biological Oceanography, then studied insect flight mechanics for his Ph.D. research at Duke University. He taught biology for several years at Bellarmine College in Louisville, then moved to the University of Kansas, where he has studied the biomechanics of animal swimming and the biomechanics and evolution of animal flight.