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. He has been a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCI since 1997. You can find him on twitter (@DenninMichael), Instagram (@DenninMichael), Facebook (@ProfDenninMichael), and LinkedIn (denninmichael).

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. His latest work is The Physics of X: where X is everything except politics – YouTube series. He currently appears regularly on the podcast Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos, and Gear-based Technology (fgggbt.com), where he and fellow panelist take “your favoriate science fiction and make it a reality.” 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, Ancient Aliens, The UnXplained, and Histories Greatest Mysteries (list of appearances at IMbD). 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.

He has been Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning and Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education at UCI since 2015. In this role, Michael is dedicated to enhancing the undergraduate experience at UC Irvine. He oversees programs that connect students to a wide range of academic programs and services and supports faculty and TAs in their efforts to teach undergraduate courses.