Benjamin Proothi

Benjamin Proothi is from Long Island, New York, where he graduated from Ward Melville High School. At Columbia, he plans to major in Applied Physics with minors in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.

Benjamin was first introduced to Physics in his sophomore year of high school. He quickly developed a passion for quantitative problem-solving and real-world applications of Physics. That spring, Benjamin competed on his school’s PhysicsBowl team, placing 4th in the United States. In his junior year, Benjamin competed in the United States Physics Olympiad, where he became the first student in district history to earn a Silver Medal.

Outside of the classroom, Benjamin was captain of his Mock Trial team, leading them to the county final. In addition, Benjamin is a three-year varsity Tennis player and an active skier and mountain biker.

Benjamin was also the Vice President of the Ward Melville Math Team and Computer Science Club, where he competed in the United States Computing Olympiad, earning a Silver designation. In his junior year, Benjamin competed in the MathWorks Math Modeling Competition, earning an honorable mention alongside his team.

Benjamin’s interest in Computer Science began during the pandemic when he taught himself to code in Swift. That year, Benjamin developed and released two iOS apps to the App Store. As a self-taught iOS developer, Benjamin began speaking at conferences around the world on accessibility in software development. He has presented at conferences in Denver, Chicago, and Amsterdam. In his senior year of high school, Benjamin worked as a web developer at Life Serve Youth Foundation and started as an iOS developer at Appfigures.

Though Benjamin is primarily interested in Physics, he has worked on research in Applied Mathematics and Computational Biology. The summer before his junior year, Benjamin participated in an Army Educational Outreach Program apprenticeship, working on statistical simulations of U.S. Army parachute deployment. The following summer, he worked in the Simmerling Lab at Stony Brook University on a project involving physics-based simulations of large proteins. This work was showcased at the New York State Science and Engineering Fair. Benjamin is eager to continue exploring his research interests at Columbia, especially in the areas of Quantum Materials, Quantum Computing, and Condensed Matter Physics.