Dr. Michael J. Pfenning, Ph.D.

Dr. Michael Pfenning is an associate professor with the Department of Physics & Nuclear Engineering as well as the Photonics Research Center at the United States Military Academy (USMA).

He was born and raised on Long Island, New York, attended Brentwood public schools, and was salutatorian of his graduating class. With a scholarship from Bausch and Lomb, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in optical engineering with a minor in physics from the University of Rochester. 

Dr. Pfenning pursued his graduate studies at Tufts University, earning both a Master of Science and a doctorate in physics. He has held postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Physics at the University of Guelph in Canada and the Department of Mathematics at the University of York in England.

He also worked for CertainTeed doing optical system design and for Raytheon’s radar design division analyzing advanced phased-array communication systems. He joined the USMA faculty in 2003, earning the rank of associate professor in 2009.

Dr. Pfenning is a cosmologist by training and specializes in quantum field theory in curved spacetime.