Alexey W. Root has a Ph.D. in education from UCLA. Her work history includes public high school teaching (social studies and English). Her most notable chess accomplishment was winning the U.S. Women's championship in 1989. Since the fall of 1999, Root has been a senior lecturer at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). She has taught UTD education classes, tutored prospective teachers for certification exams, and supervised student teachers. Root's current assignment for UTD is to teach, via the UT TeleCampus, online education courses that explore the uses of chess in classrooms. Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators (2006) and Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving (2008) were both published by Teacher Ideas Press.