Gabe Spalding
@mqmlab.bsky.social
Programmably structured light / momentum of photons. Teaching at Illinois Wesleyan, a nice, small liberal arts college, I also aim to support community. 2025 President of AAPT, Vice President of the Reichert Foundation, ALPhA Immersions Committee.
This Physics outreach truck is now just outside our Center for Natural Sciences (CNS) at Illinois Wesleyan University, ready for student engagement! #ITeachPhysics
November 7, 2025 at 3:56 PM
This Physics outreach truck is now just outside our Center for Natural Sciences (CNS) at Illinois Wesleyan University, ready for student engagement! #ITeachPhysics
Into the breach once more! Our message includes that (a) Science has been and must be good for our nation, and that (b) we ought to be working to broaden participation in science. #AAPT
October 14, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Into the breach once more! Our message includes that (a) Science has been and must be good for our nation, and that (b) we ought to be working to broaden participation in science. #AAPT
Join us!
TOMORROW is the last day to submit an abstract for #AAPTWM26! Don't delay, submit your abstract now! ow.ly/LgQ850X2iZb #AAPTConference #AAPTMeeting #ITeachPhysics #PhysicsEducation #PhysicsTeachers
September 25, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Join us!
A very nice place to be: www.iwu.edu/human-resour...
2026-27 Assistant Professor of Mathematics
www.iwu.edu
September 17, 2025 at 11:12 PM
A very nice place to be: www.iwu.edu/human-resour...
Looking forward to further collaboration with Wolfram on resources (see QR code below) for teaching within Illinois Wesleyan University's 11-course Concentration in Quantum Science & Technology. #ITeachPhysics
September 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Looking forward to further collaboration with Wolfram on resources (see QR code below) for teaching within Illinois Wesleyan University's 11-course Concentration in Quantum Science & Technology. #ITeachPhysics
Bubbles are the "dolphins" of Physics! (Everyone loves bubbles)
September 7, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Bubbles are the "dolphins" of Physics! (Everyone loves bubbles)
If you have the capacity to do so, support us by becoming (or continuing as) a dues-paying member of AAPT and/or coming to our next national meeting, to enhance (and learn from) this community, as we piece together our next steps. #ITeachPhysics
September 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM
If you have the capacity to do so, support us by becoming (or continuing as) a dues-paying member of AAPT and/or coming to our next national meeting, to enhance (and learn from) this community, as we piece together our next steps. #ITeachPhysics
You can't have science without support of the educational pathways that yield scientists (and science teachers). If you have the capacity to do so, support us by becoming a dues-paying member of AAPT. #ITeachPhysics
Want to play a bigger role in the physics community and enhance your career? Become a member of AAPT. Membership includes journal subscriptions and discounts on meetings, teaching resources and more. Join AAPT Today! aapt.org/Membership/ #PhysicsEducation #ITeachPhysics
August 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
You can't have science without support of the educational pathways that yield scientists (and science teachers). If you have the capacity to do so, support us by becoming a dues-paying member of AAPT. #ITeachPhysics
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." — H.G. Wells
August 19, 2025 at 7:14 PM
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." — H.G. Wells
Reposted by Gabe Spalding
AAPT is now accepting presentations for #AAPTWM26! Learn more and submit a presentation today! Submission deadline is September 12, 2025. ow.ly/6Mf250WHfOe #AAPTConference #AAPTMeeting #CallforPresentations #ITeachPhysics #research #teaching
August 18, 2025 at 1:20 PM
AAPT is now accepting presentations for #AAPTWM26! Learn more and submit a presentation today! Submission deadline is September 12, 2025. ow.ly/6Mf250WHfOe #AAPTConference #AAPTMeeting #CallforPresentations #ITeachPhysics #research #teaching
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
August 10, 2025 at 8:46 PM
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
We’re all going to DC! Join us! #ITeachPhysics
The 2025 AAPT Summer Meeting program is now available for viewing. Access here ➡ ow.ly/vrFp50WuGwR and get ready for a great conference experience! #AAPTSM25 #AAPTConference #AAPTMeeting #ITeachPhysics
July 25, 2025 at 12:24 AM
We’re all going to DC! Join us! #ITeachPhysics
Reposted by Gabe Spalding
Researchers who have had their NSF grants cancelled and are finishing up publications started before the termination…. How are we thanking (or not thanking) NSF in the acknowledgments? I can’t be the only one thinking about this! Feel free to drop your preprint or pub below.👇 #academicsky #science 🧪
July 23, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Researchers who have had their NSF grants cancelled and are finishing up publications started before the termination…. How are we thanking (or not thanking) NSF in the acknowledgments? I can’t be the only one thinking about this! Feel free to drop your preprint or pub below.👇 #academicsky #science 🧪
#ITeachPhysics Today, you should beat a drum or bang a gong: it's Friedrich Bessel's birthday. (Bessel functions generically emerge as solutions to wave equations when you do separation of variables in cylindrical coordinates) www.falstad.com/circosc/
Circular Membrane Applet
www.falstad.com
July 22, 2025 at 6:47 PM
#ITeachPhysics Today, you should beat a drum or bang a gong: it's Friedrich Bessel's birthday. (Bessel functions generically emerge as solutions to wave equations when you do separation of variables in cylindrical coordinates) www.falstad.com/circosc/
Visiting U.S. Senate and House offices, in support of science and science education, for AAPT. My sub-group: Professor Eric Brewe (representing CU*iP conferences), Professor Thomas Searles (representing NSBP), Dr. Mark Elsesser (Government Affairs, APS), and Ellie Clancy (Lot Sixteen)
July 17, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Visiting U.S. Senate and House offices, in support of science and science education, for AAPT. My sub-group: Professor Eric Brewe (representing CU*iP conferences), Professor Thomas Searles (representing NSBP), Dr. Mark Elsesser (Government Affairs, APS), and Ellie Clancy (Lot Sixteen)
Reposted by Gabe Spalding
Join AAPT's FREE Virtual Event, "Issue Briefing: The Future of Physics Education", on July 17, 12–1 pm ET. This event is designed for educators, advocates, funders, and anyone passionate about the future of undergraduate #STEMeducation. Register here: ow.ly/325Q50Wni5u @mqmlab.bsky.social
July 9, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Join AAPT's FREE Virtual Event, "Issue Briefing: The Future of Physics Education", on July 17, 12–1 pm ET. This event is designed for educators, advocates, funders, and anyone passionate about the future of undergraduate #STEMeducation. Register here: ow.ly/325Q50Wni5u @mqmlab.bsky.social
We published this in the wrong place: should've been AJP! #ITeachPhysics
"Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources"
Science advances 2 (4), e1501691 www.science.org/doi/full/10....
"Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources"
Science advances 2 (4), e1501691 www.science.org/doi/full/10....
Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources
Researchers experimentally investigate the superluminal kinematics of scattering light sources through ultrafast time-resolved imaging.
www.science.org
July 7, 2025 at 11:35 PM
We published this in the wrong place: should've been AJP! #ITeachPhysics
"Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources"
Science advances 2 (4), e1501691 www.science.org/doi/full/10....
"Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources"
Science advances 2 (4), e1501691 www.science.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Gabe Spalding
Everyone should pay more attention to this story.
Another day testing the limits of resilience.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels.
Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels.
The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
‘This is bull——”: National Science Foundation employees protest HUD's takeover
Dozens of National Science Foundation employees crowded the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday to protest the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, w...
www.nbcwashington.com
June 26, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Everyone should pay more attention to this story.
#ITeachPhysics TeachSpin, which designs, develops, manufactures Advanced Lab instructional apparatus, seeks a physicist w/ experience in building apparatus. Preference is for one with a PhD and experience in teaching the Advanced Lab. Send resume/cover letter to jfreichert@teachspin.com.
June 14, 2025 at 7:03 PM
#ITeachPhysics TeachSpin, which designs, develops, manufactures Advanced Lab instructional apparatus, seeks a physicist w/ experience in building apparatus. Preference is for one with a PhD and experience in teaching the Advanced Lab. Send resume/cover letter to jfreichert@teachspin.com.
1/5: NSF cuts are deepest on the mathematical side of STEM. Yet these posts argue we are facing a significant nationwide shortage of advanced-degree-holding talent in such areas, and median starting salaries for Physics bachelors who directly enter the workforce continue to soar.
June 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM
1/5: NSF cuts are deepest on the mathematical side of STEM. Yet these posts argue we are facing a significant nationwide shortage of advanced-degree-holding talent in such areas, and median starting salaries for Physics bachelors who directly enter the workforce continue to soar.
1/4: #ITeachPhysics Median starting salaries for Physics bachelors who directly enter the workforce are only a small part of the case that these are the kinds of alumni a university should strive to create: it shows that they do well for themselves.
June 4, 2025 at 5:24 PM
1/4: #ITeachPhysics Median starting salaries for Physics bachelors who directly enter the workforce are only a small part of the case that these are the kinds of alumni a university should strive to create: it shows that they do well for themselves.
1/4: In 1776, as General Cornwallis’s troops advanced upon the College of William & Mary, representatives of the secret society Phi Beta Kappa were sent out to Harvard and to Yale, to ensure that the society would not cease to exist: their revolutionary tenet sprang from the following question…
June 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
1/4: In 1776, as General Cornwallis’s troops advanced upon the College of William & Mary, representatives of the secret society Phi Beta Kappa were sent out to Harvard and to Yale, to ensure that the society would not cease to exist: their revolutionary tenet sprang from the following question…
#ITeachPhysics 1/4: Three-quarters — i.e., the LARGE majority — of Physics departments offer grad students a teaching assistantship stipend below the living wage needed to live in a shared apartment. In other words, financial support has not kept pace with financial need.
June 1, 2025 at 10:33 PM
#ITeachPhysics 1/4: Three-quarters — i.e., the LARGE majority — of Physics departments offer grad students a teaching assistantship stipend below the living wage needed to live in a shared apartment. In other words, financial support has not kept pace with financial need.
Reposted by Gabe Spalding
Goodbye REUs, goodbye GRFPs, goodbye CAREERs (which ironically I just finished writing today). This is the end of the road for all early-career scientists. If you aren't enraged you aren't paying attention.
May 31, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Goodbye REUs, goodbye GRFPs, goodbye CAREERs (which ironically I just finished writing today). This is the end of the road for all early-career scientists. If you aren't enraged you aren't paying attention.