As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin studying Applied Math, Physics, and Engineering, Ben was an Air Force National Guard member. He served as a crew chief for F-16 jets, deploying to Qatar and Iraq. He earned his PhD in Physics at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Ben joined the United States Department of Defense as a federal employee, where he has been for more than ten years. While working for the DoD, he taught a graduate-level course on data science for two years at the University of Maryland. Ben enjoys cooking and traveling.