Alex DeBirk comes to American Heritage after a career in structural engineering. He has designed buildings as large as a skyscraper, as small as a concession stand, and even spent some time with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on future satellites and lunar rovers. He received an MS in civil engineering with a emphasis in structural engineering, mechanics and materials from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BS from Brigham Young University with a minor in Japanese. Alex discovered his passion for teaching in high school when he started operating the experiential learning simulators (two of which he designed) at Pleasant Grove's Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, or CMSEC. He continued to teach as an LDS missionary in Fukuoka, Japan, and as a physics instructor while in graduate school. He continues to volunteer as the STEM instructor at the CMSEC's sister program at Renaissance Academy in Lehi, where his latest simulator design is set to open in the summer of 2016. He also has extensive experience in musical theater, having been accepted to BYU's Music/Dance/Theater program, and performing at Tuacahn, Hale Center Theater, and numerous LDS Church productions in Salt Lake City and Nauvoo. He loves the arts, the sciences, sports and the outdoors. His greatest joy, beside his wife and daughter, is knowing he has had a positive impact in another person.