Ben Lloyd
Graduate Student | Earth and Space Sciences
I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and received a BA in Geology from Colorado College in 2019. My undergraduate research focused on the earliest Cenozoic of Colorado, where I investigated changes in plant communities, climate, and the carbon cycle in the aftermath of the K-Pg mass extinction event. After graduating, I stuck around Colorado Springs to work for my alma mater, where I ran field trips and taught labs for the geology department. After a brief early-COVID stint in paleontological consulting, I moved to DC to work for the Smithsonian’s Fossil Atmospheres Project. There, I grew ginkgo trees in elevated CO2 to develop and refine proxies for past atmospheric composition. I arrived at UW in 2022, where I am researching the dynamics and drivers of C4-dominated grassland expansion across Australia.
Within the PCC, I am a member of the PCC Graduate Student Steering Committee (Public Outreach Subcommittee) and I am pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Climate Science.