Professor and Founding Faculty

Physics
School of Natural Sciences 
University of California at Merced
kmitchell@ucmerced.edu

My research addresses fundamental questions in nonlinear dynamics and their applications to classical, semiclassical and quantum physics, with an emphasis on chaotic transport.  Specific interests of mine include: (i) applications to problems in soft matter physics, including active nematic materials; (ii) applications to active particles and front propagation in fluid flows; (iii) the geometry and topology of phase space transport (including heteroclinic tangles) and symbolic dynamics representations; (iv) applications of nonlinear dynamics to AMO (atomic, molecular, and optical) physics;  My work is highly interdisciplinary, bridging areas of physics, engineering, and mathematics.

I have been at UC Merced since 2004, a year before we opened in 2005.  I’ve had the pleasure to be part of the enormous growth of the UCM campus and community.

Click here to view my public lecture with the Modesto Area Partners in Science.  (This is quite old now, but still, I hope, interesting.)

School of Natural Sciences
University of California, Merced
5200 North Lake Road
Merced, CA 95343
(209)201-3471
Office: ACS 249
kmitchell@ucmerced.edu