Nice to meet you! I'm Benjamin.
I was born and raised in Long Island, New York and I love computers and politics. I'm currently a:
Recent Graduate of Cornell University's College of Engineering
where I study Computer Science, Operations Research Engineering, and Business
Over the past 6 years I've developed a passion for working with others to democratize engineered solutions to problems in politics and finance, whether it be crawling the web for news content, analyzing voting data and cash flows, or building models and collaboration tools for student teams.
You can follow my journey from High School Student Government and Intro to Java to Cornell Student Assembly and Software Engineering using the timeline on the right.
I attended Cornell Engineering from 2020 to 2024 where I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Minors in Operations Research Engineering and Business.
I served as a Representative at Large on the Student Assembly for 3 semesters, and was an undergraduate scholar at the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs run by former congressional representative Steve Israel.
Campaigning for VP
Source: https://cornellsun.com/2022/05/04/as-s-a-voting-continues-candidates-campaign-while-students-remain-apathetic/May 4, 2022: 'Candidates for contested SA positions have been campaigning in preparation for the election.'
On the campaign trail
Me, some friends, and Touchdown the Bear at the Jonhson Museum of Art while I was campaigning for Executive Vice President of the Student Assembly.
Trivia champions
Me and my trivia team 'penchuknorris' at Ithaca Beer Company. We won 1st place 16 times during my junior and senior years.
I was also a data analyst on the ICN2030 project team, and the sector lead for tech and telecomms at Cornell Equity Research, where I authored and edited financial reports for over a dozen undergraduate analysts. You can find these reports in the Spring 2022 and Fall 2023 editions of the semesterly publication.
Node.JS
Over the past year, I've learned how to use Node to build full-stack apps using NextJS and integrate serverless platforms like AWS and Vercel
TypeScript
My language of choice, I use TypeScript on both the frontend and backend to bring my software to life in one common environment
React
In order to build complex UIs for my webscraping projects, I learned how to create responsive and reusable React components to make interfacing with my backends as simple as possible
HTML + CSS
I believe that consumer-facing apps are only as good as their interfaces. My React components wouldn't be as effective without a bit of clever structuring and TailwindCSS styling
Python
From webscrapers to data analysis to convex optimization, I've used Python everywhere from Cornell's Ithaca Carbon Neutral 2030 project team to gubernatorial campaigns
Java
My first programming language, I've used Java from my first 'Hello World' in high school up through my most advanced algorithms classes
Data Science
Having specialized in optimization, I've used tools such as Numpy, Pandas, GUROBI, and PyTorch for data analysis, and machine learning, and modeling with linear programs.
My most recent experience was this past summer when I worked as a software engineering intern at Understory Technologies.
I collaborated directly with senior software engineers on a live Node.JS platform to create a robust data validation engine interfacing between TypeScript and Excel models.
This inspired my head-first dive into web development allowing me to create this site using Next.JS, TypeScript, React, and TailwindCSS.
I also worked as an intern on campaigns such as Tom Suozzi for NY, Nick Melvoin for LA Unified, and Sam Yebri for LA District 5 where I taught myself how to automate news clipping tasks with Python webscraping, turning multiple days of work into a few hours of code execution.
News Aggregation
My most recent full-stack project is a Puppeteer-powered webcrawling engine built in NextJS, TypeScript, and React.
The frontend utilizes Palantir's BlueprintJS UI library to create a simple but powerful interface that allows for complex website configuration that can tailor the engine to crawl an unlimited number of websites.
I am currently searching for somewhere to continue my climb up the mountain of full-stack software engineering
Feel free to reach me at bjluckow1@gmail.com
My first Java Game
2018-2019
I realized that programming gave me the ability to bring my ideas to life while creating my final project for AP Computer Science. Teaching myself online, I...
Foray into Politics
2019-2020
My senior year of high school I tried my luck at running for President of Student Government. I wore a pink squid hat to establish myself...
Cornell Student Assembly
Fall 2021
After a COVID-plagued freshman year, I was sworn into the Cornell Student Assembly as an Undergraduate Representative at Large, representing over 15,000...
Learning to Web Scrape
Spring 2022
My sophomore spring and summer, I worked for several political campaigns where I taught myself to automate tasks such as 'news clipping.' Rediscovering...
Student Assembly Elections
Spring 2022
Having served on the Finance committee for 2 semesters, I ran for Executive Vice President. While I was not successful, my newfound free time allowed me to pivot majors to computer science while...