Michael Dennin

Assistant Professor of Physics 
(experimental condensed matter)

Professor Dennin earned his A. B. from Princeton University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. (1995) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He held a postdoctoral position at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow.

Professor Dennin's interest is focused on  nonequilibrium dynamics. His lab studies two different model systems: electroconvection in nematic liquid crystals and Langmuir monolayers. He is particularly interested in issues related to spatio-temporal chaos and the behavior of complex fluids. Spatio-temporal chaos refers to deterministic patterns with unpredictable, non-periodic spatial and temporal variations, and it occurs in a wide variety of systems where spatial degrees of freedom contribute to the dynamics, such as population dynamics, traffic flow, chemical reaction/diffusion systems, and arrays of Josephson junctions. Complex fluids are materials which have interesting viscoelastic properties such as foams, emulsions, granular materials, etc.. Generally, these materials behave like both a solid and a fluid, depending on the details of external stresses.

For a more detailed discussion of the research and fun pictures and movies, visit Professor Dennin's Home Page or click here to see a listing of his publications.