- Benjamin Hayes 0
By trade, I am a professor of watershed sciences and engineering at a private liberal arts college in rural central Pennsylvania (Bucknell University). My teaching and research focuses in the areas of fluvial geomorphology and stream restoration. Topics such as climate, hydrology, and geology have always fascinated me, especially how the movement of water and sediment shapes and influences our landscapes and ecosystems. I am also trying to assess how climate change is impacting flooding and droughts on headwater streams in Pennsylvania and practical restoration approaches to offset warming and low water conditions.
Looking upwards to the sky is part of my everyday routine. But it's the night sky that really fascinates me and I'm fortunate enough to live in a rural part of central Pennsylvania with Bortle 3 and 2 skies. When I was a little boy, my mother would lay out a blanket in our backyard and use H.A. Rey's book "The Stars" to help us pick out constellations and learn about the Greek mythology behind their names. Those are some of my fondest memories of my childhood and ones I treasure today.
I grew up tinkering in my Dad's wood shop and feel privileged to have a small workspace of my own where I dabble around with making furniture, home furnishing, fly fishing rods, and other small stuff. I'm no artist or fine craftsman by a long shot. As for stone, I collect them everywhere I go and have built stone retaining walls all around our 1-acre property, which sits on a 30-degree slope.
We always had a vegetable garden growing up and I almost feel guilty every year if I don't have soil under my fingernails and seedlings started on the windowsill. The past year was a big one for us, where we dug a 60' long by 40' wide
My wife and I have always enjoyed cycling, taking our trustworthy Trek 950 mountain bikes all over the United States and South Africa. We recently bought Gazelle ebikes (pedal assist) for daily commutes to work and grocery shopping. We're fortunate, because our commute is 11 miles and largely along back country roads through farms and fields.
