Teaching Professor
Physics
Brian Utter is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Physics. His research interests focus on two areas:
(1) Experimental studies on the flow of granular materials and suspensions: Though seemingly straightforward, collections of discrete particles are nonlinear, complex materials that exhibit unpredictable emergent phenomena, such as avalanching, jamming, and even the clogging of pedestrians in evacuation scenarios.
(2) Pedagogy and Physics Education Research: The way we teach and learn physics is similarly complex, as we attempt to gauge how best to foster intrinsic motivation, break incorrect preconceptions, reach conceptual change, and engage in teaching and learning effectively.
