Bruce Cornet received a B.A. degree (1970) in biology from the University of Connecticut, a Masters degree (1972) in paleobotany from that same university, and graduated from Penn State in 1977 with a Ph.D. in geology and palynology (the study of fossil spores and pollen, used to age date rocks).

He spent 11 years in the oil industry, working for Gulf Research & Development, Exxon USA, Mobil Oil Corporation, and Superior Oil Company, all in Houston, TX.  Between 1981 and 1982 he ran his own independent exploration company (Geminoil, Inc.), which drilled for and found oil in eastern Virginia.  Between 1988 and 1993 he held a research position at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (part of Columbia University), and was the wellsite geologist for that institute’s Newark Basin Coring Project in New Jersey, for which he described and photographed 28,000 feet of Late Triassic to Early Jurassic cores.  He is profiled on ResearchGate, and has published 48 scientific articles and research papers, three books, and numerous abstracts on subjects in paleobotany, palynology, and geology.

He taught classroom geology and botany, and online geology for Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey, El Paso Community College in Texas, and Dona Ana Community College in New Mexico (2002-2008).

In 1992 he discovered that he lived next to the Pine Bush UFO hotspot in New York State, and began a three year, 24 square mile magnetic survey, discovering many anomalies underground and documenting over 140 close encounters with unconventional aircraft or UFOs. He has written one book on his research into the Pine Bush Phenomenon: Unconventional Aerial Phenomena in the Hudson and Wallkill River Valley of New York (2019).

In 2003 he was hired as Deputy Administrator at the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) in Las Vegas four months before NIDS was shut down.  He is now retired and living in El Paso, TX.