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Dan Liu

Dan Liu headshot

Associate Professor

Physics

College of Arts and Sciences
860.768.4622 Dana Hall 229
Education

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Rhode Island

Master of Science, China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Bachelor of Science, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, China

Dr. Dan Liu has been teaching physics at UHart since 2018 and received her tenure in 2023. Before joining UHart, she worked as a lecturer in physics and a physics lab coordinator at the University of New Haven (UNH). Dan also served as an Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNH in 2016. She is a dedicated lecturer and integrates various teaching strategies to her classroom, such as peer instruction, active learning, POGIL etc. Dan conducts physics education research to support her teaching with pedagogy. Along with a bachelor's degree in physics education, she has teaching certificates in secondary physics from in China (2005) and Rhode Island (2011). Her research topics in physics education include assessment methods of students’ performance in physics labs, undergraduates’ learning difficulties in vectors, and physics of sports and the human body. Her research focus in theoretical physics is condensed matter. She applies statistical mechanics and machine learning to understand how interactions at the elementary level give rise to the collective properties of complex systems, from theoretical models such as Ising models and jammed disk models to real life questions such as granular mixture segregation and collective behaviors of animal swarms.

  1. Sejal U. Lotliker, Ramnath Samant, Nikhil Mesquita, Dan Liu, Ashish M. Desai, “Accuracy of the new modified Morse potential energy function for ground and excited states of diatomic molecules”, Phys. Op. 16, 100159, (2023).
  2. Dan Liu, Gerhard Müller, “Jammed disks of two sizes and weights in a channel: alternating sequences”, Phys. Rev. E 105, 024904 (2022).
  3. Dan Liu, Zhuojun Duan, “Simulations of back and arms”, Phys. Teach. 59, 544 (2021).
  4. Dan Liu, Yasanthi Kottegoda, “Disconnect between undergraduates’ understanding of algebraic and geometric aspects of vectors”, Eur. J. Phys. 40, 035702 (2019).
  5. Ceyda Mumcu, Gil Fried, Dan Liu, “Buffer zone: policies, procedures, and reality”, J. Legal Asp. Sport 29, 86 (2019).
  6. Dan Liu, Houssein Turkey, “Exploration of task performance tests in a physics laboratory”, Eur. J. Phys. 38, 065701 (2017).
  7. Christopher Moore, Dan Liu, Benjamin Ballnus, Michael Karbach, Gerhard Müller, “Disks in a narrow channel jammed by gravity and centrifuge: profiles of pressure, mass density, and entropy density” J. Stat. Mech. P04008 (2014).
  8. Norman Gundlach, Michael Karbach, Dan Liu, Gerhard Müller, “Jammed disks in a narrow channel: criticality and ordering tendencies” J. Stat. Mech. P04018 (2013).
  9. Ping Lu, Dan Liu, Gerhard Müller, Michael Karbach, “Interlinking motifs and entropy landscapes of statistically interacting particles” Condens. Matt. Phys. 15, 13001 (2012).
  10. Dan Liu, Jared Vanasse, Gerhard Müller, Michael Karbach, “Generalized Pauli principle for particles with distinguishable traits”, Phys. Rev. E 85, 011144 (2012).
  11. Dan Liu, Ping Lu, Gerhard Müller, Michael Karbach, “Taxonomy of particles in Ising Spin Chains”, Phys. Rev. E 84, 021136 (2011).
  1. Dan Liu, Ashish M. Desai, “Clusters with topological distances in insect swarms explored by machine learning”, AIP conference proceedings, 2849, 450020 (2023).
  2. Hashini Mohottala, Dan Liu, “Going Backward in Tech to move Forward in Learning Physics – In-person and Remote Learning”, EDULEARN21 Proceedings, 9982-9988, (2021).
  3. Dan Liu, Hashini Mohottala, “A study of undergraduates' understanding of vector - decomposition of forces on inclined planes”, PERC proceedings (2021).
  4. Dan Liu, Gerhard Müller, “Jammed disks of two sizes in a narrow channel”, in Traffic and Granular Flow 2019, edited by I. Zuriguel, A. Garcimartin, and R. Cruz, Springer Proceedings in Physics, 252, 389-395, (2019).
  • 2023 President Emeritus Walter Harrison Endowed Faculty Development Fund, University of Hartford
  • 2020, 2022 Teaching and Learning Grant, University of Hartford
  • 2019, 2022 Coffin Grant, University of Hartford
  • 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2021 Fall, 2022 Fall Dean’s Grant, University of Hartford
  • 2015 & 2017 Chunhui Grant funded by Chinese Ministry of Education
  • 2014 American Physical Society Indo - U.S. Science and Technology Forum Professorship Award