Ben graduated in May 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. He is originally from Adel, Iowa. Ben was an active member of the high-altitude (stratospheric) ballooning team from the fall of 2015 until he graduated. He was a co-lead for the total solar eclipse live-streaming project in the summer of 2017. His time with the ballooning team taught him the importance of planning for all possibilities and communicating clearly. He is currently a systems engineer at Honeywell Aerospace in the Twin Cities, developing avionics for civil aviation.
