Michael F. Schatz is a professor and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the School of Physics. Schatz grew up on a cattle ranch near the town of Eagle Butte, South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. He majored in physics at the University of Notre Dame, where he received his BS (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) in 1983. After working for a few years at NASA as a rocket scientist conducting research on ion propulsion, Schatz attended graduate school at the University of Texas, Austin, where he received his PhD in physics in 1991. Schatz was a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas, Austin until 1996, when he joined the faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of physics.

Schatz conducts research in both experimental nonlinear dynamics (pattern formation, chaos and turbulence in fluid flows) and physics education. He is a recipient of the Cottrell Scholars Award for his commitment to excellence in both research and teaching.