Hills to sign ‘Geeks on a Mission’ at Fireside Books

PALMER — Dr. Alex Hills of Palmer has published a new book — “Geeks on a Mission” — about the awe-inspiring work of his students at Carnegie Mellon University.

Rather than take their professional skills into the job market, his students donated their summer vacations to work in developing nations around the world, Hills said in a press release.

Edited by Hills, distinguished service professor at Carnegie Mellon University, “Geeks on a Mission” tells the stories of these students who acted as professional consultants and peers to the top executives in their client organizations, and how those experiences changed their lives forever.

Hills will sign copies of the book Sept. 18 at Fireside Books in Palmer.

Four of the five students profiled in the book visited Alaska last year and spoke about the Geeks Without Borders project at Mat-Su College and the University of Alaska Anchorage campus.

Working with his colleague Professor Joseph Mertz, Hills helps to teach, mentor and place students as consultants in government agencies and nongovernmental organizations in developing nations. For many of the students, this is a life-changing experience that causes them to refocus their lives. For others, it brings about a commitment to part-time work using their professional skills to help others.

Hills is perhaps best known internationally for his work in communication technology. His book “Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio” tells the story of Carnegie Mellon’s Wireless Andrew project, a campus-wide high-speed wireless network that served as the prototype for modern Wi-Fi networks, Hills said.

In Alaska, he is known for his work in the 1970s and 1980s developing the state’s broadcast and telecommunication networks so that even small villages could receive radio, television and telephone service.

An inventor with 13 patents, Hills also has lectured and consulted in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea.

He divides his time between Carnegie Mellon, the Universidad Austral de Chile and the University of Alaska Anchorage. He lives in Palmer with his wife Meg, a retired nurse practitioner. The couple has two grown daughters, Drs. Rebecca and Karen Hills.