Alexus Cazares graduated cum laude from The University of Arizona with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Honors) as well as Molecular and Cellular Biology, with minors in Marine Science and Biochemistry. She is originally from Los Angeles but decided to attend the UA because of her passion for reptiles and love of the desert. Alexus worked on the Lizard Urban Ecology Project May 2017-2018, then worked on the Stone Canyon Snake Project from May 2018-July 2020. In 2019, she completed her Honors Thesis on "Effects of Urbanization on Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum) Populations in Arizona" and participated in a research internship that she received through the UA/NASA Space Grant. In July 2020, Alexus pursued a PhD in Oceanography at University of Hawaii at Manoa to study midwater impacts of deep sea mining.