• Dennis Ugolini has been a member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy faculty since 2003. He teaches a wide variety of introductory and upper-division laboratory and lecture courses, and helped create a first-year experience course on critical thinking. 
    After twenty years as part of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration, Ugolini's research now focuses on making cutting-edge research equipment accessible to undergraduates. This program centers on the Arduino, an open-source electronics platform that replaces the complexity of filter and feedback circuits with software. Current projects include an inexpensive device to measure laser wavelength to 0.1 nanometer precision, and a system for controlling the length of an optical cavity.

    • Ph.D. in Physics, Stanford University
    • B.S. in Physics, California Institute of Technology
    • D. Ugolini, H. Rafferty, M. Winter, C. Rockstuhl, and A. Bergmann. “LIGO analogy lab – a set of undergraduate lab experiments to demonstrate some principles of gravitational wave detection.” American Journal of Physics 87, 44 (2019). 
    • D. Ugolini, C. Fitzgerald, I. Rothbarth, and J. Wang. “Discharging Fused Silica Optics Occluded by an Electrostatic Drive.” Review of Scientific Instruments 85, 034502 (2014).
    • Designing inexpensive Arduino-based systems to make cutting-edge physics accessible to undergraduate and high school laboratories.
    • Introduction to Mechanics 
    • Introduction to Electricity, Magnetism, and Waves 
    • Electronics Lab 
    • First-Year Experience: What We Know That Just Ain't So
    • 2019 Trinity University "Best of the Best" Award

    Head Moderator for the Texas Quiz Bowl Alliance

    Giving talks at San Antonio area schools, such as the Science Lecture Series at O'Connor High School.

    Since 2002, serving as a lecturer for the Research Science Institute (RSI) research internship program for talented and science-focused rising high school seniors.