Ken Alexander (Secretary)
KEN ALEXANDER (Secretary) has been a flutist in LADSO since 1991, and is Professor of Mathematics at USC. He began the flute at age 9, and music has been embedded in his life ever since. He participated in performing groups through his school years in Shoreline, Washington, his college years at the University of Washington, and his Ph.D. studies in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a gap he again felt the pull of the orchestra, first joining the USC Community Orchestra, then LADSO in 1991. He studied with Myung-So Kim, Felix Skowronek, Jeffrey Cohan, Richard Breitstein, Patti Cloud, and Gary Woodward, from his school years on through adulthood. He served on LADSO’s internal Council and joined its current Board at its inception in 2012.
Ken earned his Ph.D. in 1982, followed by postdoctoral positions at Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and the University of Washington. He came to USC in 1986, and is now Vice Chair of the Department of Mathematics. His research area is the interface of probability theory and mathematical physics, including the mathematical description of phase transitions.
His avocations extend beyond flute to photography and world travel, combining the two whenever possible. He has sold travel photography to Lonely Planet and others. Ken resides in Culver City with his wife and son.