Lars English received his B.S. in 1996 from Denison University - a small liberal arts college not unlike Dickinson, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2003. His research explores nonlinear phenonmena like spontaneous localization and pattern formation in lattices.
One class of such lattices are magnetic crystrals. Here the spin dynamics of magnets is probed experimentally through high-power microwave resonance experiments. We are currently studying room-temperature ferromagnets, such as YIG, but hope to extend measurements to low-temperature antiferromagnets in the future. Other lattices, such as coupled electrical oscillators and coupled pendulum arrays, are fabricated right here in the laboratory machine shop, and due to their macroscopic size these lattices can illustrate counter-intuitive nonlinear dynamics more directly. He also explores nonlinear lattice dynamics via numerical simulations.Lars enjoys contemplating connections between science and spirituality, meditating, hiking in beautiful Pennsylvania, reading, listening to music, soccer, and -most of all- spending time with his wife Anita and daughter Anya.