He served as Chairman, Department of Chemistry in academia for 8 years. Dr. Alexander has been a Professor of Chemistry for thirty six years. He is sited as one of the seven "founding fathers" of Organic Chemistry at his prestigious institution. He was appointed Coordinator of the Third College Science and Technology Program, a program that was designed to encourage and enhance the success of African American and other underrepresented minority students in the sciences and mathematics. Dr. Alexander conducted research in the areas of organic photochemistry and on the synthesis and chemistry of highly strained ring compounds. His research supervision and mentoring led to the graduation of the first African American PhD. in Chemistry at the institution. His efforts also helped place numerous African American and other minority students into medical, graduate, and pharmacy schools. Using photochemistry, Dr. Alexander developed the most effective method known to date for synthesizing 2-substituted bicyclo[1.1.1.] pentanes. These compounds have been synthetically challenging and possess a very unique ring structure which has sparked special theoretical interest over the past fifty years. Recently amino acid derivatives of bicyclo[1.1.1] pentanes have been found to be rigid analogues of naturally occurring neurotransmitters found in the brain. Currently, Dr. Alexander's research is in Biochemistry, and studying the inhibitory effects of vitamin C derivatives on the activity of glycolytic enzymes.