Warren and Mildred met while studying at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, in a calculus class taught by Walter Richard Talbot.
[citation needed] Growing up in Washington, D.C., Buck attended schools in the area for his primary and secondary education.
[5] Buck went on to attend his parents' alma mater, Lincoln University, in Jefferson City, Missouri, on a partial scholarship to run on the track team.
After two years at Lincoln, Buck transferred to Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he began studying physics.
In between changing schools, Buck worked as a waiter and bartender, and was eventually drafted for military service.
While at William & Mary, Buck founded and drafted the constitution for the college's Black Student Organization in 1969, where he also served as the group's first president.
[1] While completing his PhD, he studied with Franz Gross, and serving on his thesis committee were Carl Carlson, Charles F. Perdrisat, George Rublein, and Hans von Baeyer.
"[7] After graduating from William and Mary, Buck was initially hired by Gerry Brown at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York, as a physics instructor.
After three years living at sea, Buck briefly returned to College of William and Mary, as construction would soon commence on the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in nearby Newport News, Virginia.
However, he soon approached Demetrius Venable at Hampton University about a position there, in the interest of bringing quality physics education to Black undergraduate students.
[8] Buck joined the Hampton staff as the fourth physics faculty member in 1984, and was appointed full professor in 1989.
Buck recruited a number of physicists to speak at Hampton for this program, including Frank Close, Dirk Walecka, Jerry Friedman, and James Gates.
[12] In 1997, Buck was featured in the "Way Cool Scientist" segment of the television show Bill Nye the Science Guy, in Season 5, episode 8, "Atoms and Molecules.
[12][15] Throughout his teaching career and into the present, Buck has been active in various professional appointments: from 2007 to 2008, he served as co-chair of the Committee on New Opportunities in Solar System Exploration of NASA’s New Frontiers Program; he has served on the Committee on Education of the American Physical Society; on the board of directors of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility’s Users Group; and on the board of directors of the Pacific Science Center.