Cam Dennis

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Cam Dennis

Soft Condensed Matter Physics Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Pennsylvania

Syracuse University

Biography

Cam Dennis is a postdoc currently working at the University of Pennsylvania under the advisement of Andrea Liu and Lisa Manning at Syracuse University. Cam spends much of his time persuing projects and research directions in the field non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The idea of cracking the glass problem is at the root of most of his research endeavors and he boasts progress in meeting that goal.

When he is not working on research puzzles, Cam enjoys solving and creating puzzles, such as Sudoku, for leisure. He is also an aquarist and avid rock climbing enthusiast.

Interests

Simulations
Glasses and Non-equilibrium Thermal Physics
Jamming
Chaos

Education

PhD in Physics, 2016-2021
University of Oregon
BA in Physics, 2012-2016
Wabash College (Indiana)
BA in Mathematics, 2012-2016
Wabash College (Indiana)

Skills

Python

C++

Fortran

Statistical Mechanics

Research

CUDA & Parallel Computing

Experience

and awards

2019 ArtSci Oregon Research As Art Winner

ArtSci Oregon

Oct 2019 – Nov 2019 Eugene Oregon

Glass and Jamming Physics: Advisor Eric Corwin

corwinLab

Jun 2017 – Present University of Oregon

Numerically probing simulated glasses and jammed systems. Searching for mean-field glassy behaviors in finite-size soft athermal jammed particle configurations. Fundamental jamming physics.

2016-2017 Physics Department Exam Award

University of Oregon

Sep 2016 – Jun 2017 University of Oregon

Awarded to the student who performed best in their academics

Teaching

University of Oregon

Sep 2016 – Present Eugene Oregon

introductory physics labs

electronics

electricity and magnetism

modern physics

thermal physics

2016 Mackintosh Fellow

Wabash College

May 2016 – May 2016

Scholarship provided to graduation seniors upon selection based on departmental recommendations.

2015 Phi Beta Kappa Prize

Wabash College

May 2015 – May 2015

Awarded to that undergraduate who is judged to have produced the most original and meritorious piece of work, whether artistic or analytical.

2015 Fuller Prize

Wabash College

May 2015 – May 2015

This award is presented annually to the junior physics major who is judged by the Physics Department to be most worthy. The award was established in 1979 by Harold Q Fuller, Class of 1928.

2015 Physics Department Writing Prize

Wabash College

May 2015 – May 2015

This an award was established by the Physics Department to encourage and reward quality writing in physics. It is given to the physics student who, in the judgment of the Physics Department, has written a paper on original experimental or theoretical work that demonstrates the highest standards of scientific writing. The prize will be a physics book selected by the department, and the student’s name will be added to a plaque displayed in Goodrich Hall.

Summer 2015 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REI)

University of Notre Dame

May 2015 – Aug 2015

Worked on project GRAND under Dr. John Poirer.

Writing Center Tutor

Wabash College

Sep 2014 – May 2016 Crawfordsville Indiana

Undergraduate Physics Tutoring

Wabash College

Sep 2013 – May 2016 Crawfordsville Indiana

Bachelor’s Degree in Physics

Wabash College

Aug 2012 – May 2016

Graduated Summa Cum Laude

Phi Beta Kappa Member Math/Physics GPA: 4.0/4.0 Overall GPA: 3.96

Datasets

Projects

Dionysian Packing

Traditionally, high strength lightweight materials are created from mechanically rigid structures with a combination of compressive and tensile forces. By contrast, purely compressive materials such as sand and gravel do not typically offer a high strength to weight ratio.

Hierarchical Jamming

The free energy landscape of mean field marginal glasses is ultrametric. We demonstrate that this feature persists in finite three dimensional systems which are out of equilibrium by finding sets of minima which are nearby in configuration space.

Finite Size Effects of Jammed Configurations

Jamming criticality defines a universality class that includes systems as diverse as glasses, colloids, foams, amorphous solids, constraint satisfaction problems, neural networks, etc. A peculiarly interesting feature of this class is that small interparticle forces (f) and gaps (h) are distributed according to non-trivial power laws.