In 1963 Buseck was hired by
Arizona State University with joint appointments to the Department of
Geology (now the School of Earth and Space Exploration) and the Department of
Chemistry (now the School of Molecular Sciences), where he continues his professional career. Buseck studied phenomena from geological, chemical, and physical perspectives, which gave his research an interdisciplinary character when such collaborations were rare. Buseck's research primarily involved the application of
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in four major areas:
mineralogy,
meteoritics,
fullerenes and related carbon phases, and
atmospheric chemistry. Buseck, along with John Armstrong, obtained the first quantitative chemical analyses of airborne particles. Buseck was also a pioneer in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (
HRTEM) mineralogy, which allowed crystal structures to be imaged directly. Buseck also performed some of the earliest mineralogical research on
carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Sabbatical-year appointments were at the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory (ICL) and Department of Geology at
Oxford University (1970–71),
Stanford University Department of Geology (1976-1977); Laboratory Mineralogie & Cristallographie, University of Paris VII (1985–86); Special Assistant, Office of the Director of the
National Science Foundation (1994–95), and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Harvard University (2001-2002). In 2021, the
Center for Meteorite Studies at ASU was named in honor of Buseck. ==Selected publications==