Biography

Dr. Ben Coughenour is from Traverse City, Michigan. He majored in astronomy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as an undergraduate before going to Wayne State University in Detroit, where he earned his PhD in Physics in May of 2020. His research as a graduate student covered the spectral an timing properties of accretion onto neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries, and he worked under Professor Ed Cackett.

Dr. Coughenour then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate for three years at the Space Sciences Lab of the University of California, Berkeley with Dr. John Tomsick. His postdoctoral research focused on the X-ray properties of accretion onto black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs, as well as X-ray source populations within the Milky Way.

At UVU, Dr. Coughenour continues to pursue research into accretion onto white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, primarily through the analysis of X-rays observed from telescopes in orbit.

Teaching