Veteran Scientist Spotlight: Alixandra Lewis

Alixandra (Ali) Lewis, Army/Military Police veteran, was commissioned into the US Army as a Military Police Officer upon graduation from Western Michigan University in 2003. She completed her officer basic course at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, was stationed with the Arctic Military Police Battalion at Fort Richardson, Ak, and then was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for her exemplary service in her combat tour in Afghanistan from 2005-2006. She performed Bagram base perimeter security, route security missions, and managed three Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Jalalabad, Asadabad, and Kabul. Promoted to Captain, she served as the Battalion Logistics Officer for 11 companies. After separating from the military in 2008, Alixandra married and dedicated herself to supporting her husband, an active-duty officer, and raising their three children. Over the past 16 years, they have relocated 11 times throughout which Alixandra has been an active member of the Spouses Club and involved with the Family Readiness Group. She has completed two year-long Army War College programs: the Military Spouse and Family Studies Program and the Executive Leadership Development Course for Spouses. She is preparing to assume a key support role as an Army Brigade Team Spouse when her husband takes command of a Brigade in the summer of 2025. She was part of an S2S veteran cohort that attended a 2-week Great Basin National Park EcoRecon Expedition in Nevada. She also joined S2S to canvas the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Conference in Washington, DC. She will be the veteran evaluator-in-training.

Ali is currently studying to earn her masters degree in Fish and Wildlife Administration at Oregon State University. Ali has been a participant at several S2S events, and she is interested in expanding veteran access to citizen science. S2S hopes to engage more veterans like Ali, so they might be understand the many benefits of outdoor recreation through Citizen Science.