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
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
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?
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)
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.
Andor has some memorable lines
May 30, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Andor has some memorable lines
This is a major milestone celebrating the Illinois Wesleyan University emphasis on continuing to probe students’ multiple interests, and doing the work to connect the dots. It’s a great day to be a Titan! #TGOE
www.wglt.org/local-news/2...
www.wglt.org/local-news/2...
April 16, 2025 at 12:59 AM
This is a major milestone celebrating the Illinois Wesleyan University emphasis on continuing to probe students’ multiple interests, and doing the work to connect the dots. It’s a great day to be a Titan! #TGOE
www.wglt.org/local-news/2...
www.wglt.org/local-news/2...
Please join us in congratulating Wanda on her award for the top research presentation at the Combined Meeting of the Illinois and the Iowa Sections of the American Association of Physics Teachers. #ITeachPhysics
April 6, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Please join us in congratulating Wanda on her award for the top research presentation at the Combined Meeting of the Illinois and the Iowa Sections of the American Association of Physics Teachers. #ITeachPhysics
Working to amplify student interest, student identity within their majors, and student opportunity, all of us, together, make a difference. #ITeachPhysics
April 2, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Working to amplify student interest, student identity within their majors, and student opportunity, all of us, together, make a difference. #ITeachPhysics
There's a sense of significant opportunity here. Please point (quantum-) interested students towards Illinois Wesleyan University! #ITeachPhysics
March 31, 2025 at 1:34 PM
There's a sense of significant opportunity here. Please point (quantum-) interested students towards Illinois Wesleyan University! #ITeachPhysics
Everyone teaching Physics should be encouraged to participate in national meetings of AAPT, at least once every three years. This would benefit each of us, individually, as well as our shared professional society, AAPT. #ITeachPhysics
January 17, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Everyone teaching Physics should be encouraged to participate in national meetings of AAPT, at least once every three years. This would benefit each of us, individually, as well as our shared professional society, AAPT. #ITeachPhysics
This term students in my Optical Physics course calculated Computer-generated Holograms, of whatever objects they could think of. The one below, when transmitted to a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM), produces a hologram of our school mascot, "Tommy Titan." SLMs can be a great tool for Optics teaching.
December 30, 2024 at 4:54 PM
This term students in my Optical Physics course calculated Computer-generated Holograms, of whatever objects they could think of. The one below, when transmitted to a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM), produces a hologram of our school mascot, "Tommy Titan." SLMs can be a great tool for Optics teaching.
Once again off to D.C., to a gathering of the American Institute of Physics, which brings together representatives from a large number of scientific and engineering professional societies. All of us, together, can try to make a difference.
December 7, 2024 at 9:18 PM
Once again off to D.C., to a gathering of the American Institute of Physics, which brings together representatives from a large number of scientific and engineering professional societies. All of us, together, can try to make a difference.
Illinois Wesleyan University contingent at the Illinois Manufacturing Association annual luncheon
December 6, 2024 at 4:45 PM
Illinois Wesleyan University contingent at the Illinois Manufacturing Association annual luncheon
ICYM, Scholar Goggler uses your Google Scholar page to make a word cloud from the titles: scholargoggler.com
November 25, 2024 at 12:03 AM
ICYM, Scholar Goggler uses your Google Scholar page to make a word cloud from the titles: scholargoggler.com
Tonight was our STEM Career Night, so I texted this picture, with no comment, to each of my students who had not yet shown up. Guess what? It worked pretty well!
November 21, 2024 at 2:59 AM
Tonight was our STEM Career Night, so I texted this picture, with no comment, to each of my students who had not yet shown up. Guess what? It worked pretty well!
Students weren’t “supposed” to complete this lab yet, but one group couldn’t wait, and so went in on their own time to give it a try!
November 18, 2024 at 10:19 PM
Students weren’t “supposed” to complete this lab yet, but one group couldn’t wait, and so went in on their own time to give it a try!