Benjamin Bucey

Benjamin is a Geosciences major with a Earth, Oceans, and Climate emphasis. He has minors in Planetary Sciences and French. Benjamin found he was really interested in the large-scale processes that led to the formation of planets so he began looking at minors that would allow him to study those processes. The planetary sciences minor looked like it might be a good fit, but did not add the minor until he saw that Dynamic Meteorology, which sounded especially interesting, was part of the program. His passion for planetary science led him to switch his major to Geosciences, which has allowed him to study planetary processes on Earth and the planetary sciences minor has given him the opportunity to study processes on other planets and the processes that lead to the formation of planetary systems.

Benjamin’s favorite planetary science class has been PTYS 450, Origin of the Solar System and Other Planetary Systems, taught by LPL Professor Ilaria Pascucci. It was the first class in which Benjamin studied the complex processes behind the formation of galaxies, clouds of gas and dust, planetary nebulae, planetary disks, solar systems and their components. It was all new material, so he really got a lot out of the class. This course changed the way he looks at the world and the universe.

Benjamin is currently working with Professor Jianjun Yin from Geosciences to study how sea level rise rates have changed and how they may be related to increased coastal flooding rates on the East Coast of the United States. He is using Python to conduct spectral analysis on East Coast sea level data to understand the periodicity of sea level rise rates and comparing results to spectral analysis data of AMO and Niño3.4 sea level anomaly data to determine how these processes impact the current East Coast sea level.

Benjamin is applying to graduate schools to study environmental policy and management. He has spent his undergraduate career learning about the formation of planets and their processes. He has realized how complex but fragile these processes are and how important they are to us if we want to continue living comfortably on Earth. This inspired him to pursue a career in environmental policy where he can work to protect these systems.

When Benjamin is not in class or working on research, he enjoys playing the piano, drawing, and hiking.