Professor, Physics & Astronomy
School of Physical Sciences

Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education

Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning

Science Outreach, Experimental condensed matter

Research Home Page

General Webapge

UCI Senate Distinguished mid-Career Award for Service (2011-2012)
UCI Award for Instructional Technology (2008 - 2009)
UCI Extension UCI Irvine Faculty Award (2008 -2009)
UCI Academice Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching (2007)
UCI Teaching Excellence Award, School of Physical Sciences (2006)
UCI Distinguished Assistant Professor Award for Research (2001 - 2002)
Cottrell Scholar (2000 - 2006)
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2000 - 2004)
Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research (2000).
Outstanding/Inspirational Professor within School of Physical Sciences (1999).
Research Innovation Award, presented by Research Corporation (March 1999)

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
an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar.

Professor Dennin's main research interest is systems that exhibit emergent
properties. These include the behavior of complex fluids, such as foam and sand,
as well as the complex dynamics of biological systems. For a more detailed
discussion of the research and fun pictures and movies,
visit Professor Dennin's Home Page: http://www.physics.uci.edu/~dennin.

Professor Dennin is well-known for popularizing science for the public. He has
taught many online courses on the nature of science, including team teaching a
MOOC based on the television program, The Walking Dead. He has appeared on a
number of television programs, including Spider-man Tech, Batman Tech, Star
Wars Tech, and Ancient Aliens. He has a book with Franciscan Media
on science and religion titled: Divine Science: Finding Reason at the Heart of Faith that is available at independent bookstores everywhere, online at Franciscan Media dot Org, and of course Amazon.

Professor Dennin has been Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCI since 1997, and the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education since 2015. His research focuses on the dynamics of foams, modeling of ice mélange in fjords, and education issues. He is passionate about public outreach in the area of science – appearing on numerous television programs. His research and outreach is recognized by his election as a Fellow of the American Physical Society. You can find Prof. Dennin on the podcast Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos, and Gear-Based Technologies where he explains how to make fictional technology a reality (http://fgggbt.com). Recently, he published a science outreach book on the intersection between science and faith: Divine Science: Finding Reason at the Heart of Faith, from Franciscan Media.

Some selected publications, for a complete list visit Prof. Dennin's Homepage

Bubble kinematics in a sheared foam, Y. Wang, K. Krishan, and M. Dennin, Physical Review E 74, 041405 (2006).

Impact of boundaries on velocity profiles in bubble rafts, Y. Wang, K. Krishan, and M. Dennin, Phys. Rev. E. 73, 031401 (2006).

Comparison between step strains and slow steady shear in a bubble raft, M. Twardos and M. Dennin, Phys. Rev. E 71, 061402 (2005).

Annexin I A1 Interaction with a Zwitterionic Phospholipid Monolayer: A Fluorescence Microscopy Study, J. Alfredo Freites, Shahla Ali, Michael Dennin, Anja Rosengarth, and Hartmut Luecke, Langmuir, 20, 11674 (2004).

Velocity Profiles in Slowly Sheared Bubble Rafts, John Lauridsen, Gregory Chanan, and M. Dennin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 018303 (2004)

Nonlinear stress and fluctuation dynamics of sheared disordered wet foam, E. Pratt and M. Dennin, Phys. Rev. E 67, 051402 (2003).

Comparison of steady-state shear viscosity and complex shear modulus in Langmuir monolayers, M. Twardos and M. Dennin, Langmuir 19, 3542 (2003).

Domain Coarsening in Electroconvection, L. Purvis and M. Dennin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5898 (2001).

American Physics Society

American Association of Teachers

American Association for Advancement of Science

Member of Institute for Surface and Interfacial Science

Member Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=4842

Last updated
03/08/2023