Spring 2025 Joint Meeting of the Iowa and Illinois Sections of the AAPT
“The Future of Quantum and Education”
April 5 - 6
Augustana College
Rock Island, IL
We invite you to attend the Spring 2025 meeting of the ISAAPT. Come to learn more about physics, discover new tools and techniques for teaching physics, share your experiences via contributed presentations and Take Fives, and meet old and new friends.
Submit a 15-minute Contributed Presentation
Register to attend! - Prepay your meeting fees!
List of Presentations - Click on the tabs to see the details
Attendees - Click on the tabs to see the details
Campus map - Parking - Recommended Hotel - Driving Directions - Photos
Registration will be at the Hanson Hall of Science starting
at 8:00 am on Saturday and 8:00 am on Sunday.
Invited Speakers
Plenary/Banquet speaker (Public Talk): "Quantum is Coming (Here!) and We Can’t Do it Without You!"
Dr. Thomas A. Searles from the University of Illinois-Chicago
Quantum information technology is emerging and expected to disrupt current critical communications, computing, and sensing infrastructure. Importantly, each of the near-term applications of quantum information are recognized globally as challenging in both a scientific and technological sense. Just as important as the technical advancements, the quantum industry also requires a trained-skilled workforce and vast investment in quantum education nationally. By 2035, quantum computers are expected to be “useful” for solving specific problems in chemistry, materials science and finance and in Illinois we expect a workforce that will exceed 35,000 quantum jobs with 60B in impact. Currently, there is a 20B investment on the South Side of Chicago in the form of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, with quantum industry tenants in Government and Industry. As such, it is important to reach current K to 12 students and educators and present opportunities for collaboration within building a safer, quantum-smart future in the US.
Thomas A. Searles is a quantum engineer, and experimental condensed matter physicist, from Albany, GA. He graduated from Morehouse College (BS) and Rice University with a PhD in Applied Physics. In 2021, Searles joined the University of Illinois Chicago as an Associate Professor, under the University System’s Distinguished Faculty Recruitment Program. Prior to UIC, he was a Martin Luther King Visiting Professor at MIT and the Director of the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center. Amongst having an active research program in quantum computing, photonics and communications, Thomas currently leads a multi-year multimillion-dollar consortium for quantum engineering education. In recognition for his research in light-matter interactions and his capability to mentor students in Physics and Engineering, Thomas was awarded the inaugural AIP-NSBP Joseph A. Johnson Award for Excellence, the 2025 BEYA for Educational Leadership and an NSF CAREER Award. Additionally, Thomas serves as President-elect of the National Society of Black Physicists, an APS DLS Distinguished Traveling Lecturer and member-at-large of the US National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, National Academies.
"Demo show"
Dale Stille from the University of Iowa
This demonstration program will feature demonstrations of Electricity and Magnetism, Communications, Optics, Space Physics, and Superconductivity. Volunteers will be needed to help with the many hands-on activities that will be presented during the session. Examples of magnetic levitation, radio and TV transmission, a ping-pong ball accelerator, lasers, fingerprints of elements, and much more will be shown. Since this is the International Year of Quantum, explanations will be solicited from the audience participants to describe some of the demonstrations in terms of Quantum.
"Critical Issues in the Physics Pipeline"
Gabe Spalding, Illinois Wesleyan University and AAPT President
Physics programs at all levels are faced with rapidly growing concerns. This talk aims to delineate critical issues at each stage in the Physics pipeline. Your input is solicited, on steps that should be taken to "move the needle" in a positive direction, initiating further discussion about AAPT's advocacy priorities. Ongoing engagement with our shared professional society, AAPT, is expected to play a crucial role as we move forward. All of us, together, make a difference.
Workshops
W1: Hands-on Physics Activities
Saturday, April 5 at 9 AM - 12 PM
Sanchia Sommers from the East Moline School District
A hands-on physics workshop designed to empower teachers with creative, low-cost, and engaging lab activities for their classrooms. Participants will rotate through interactive demonstrations that highlight simple yet effective ways to teach core physics concepts. Activities include building a spaghetti bridge to explore structural engineering and forces, constructing a small windmill to investigate energy and motion, and conducting an interactive lab using the Sphero Mini, a remote-controlled ball perfect for teaching principles like velocity, acceleration, and friction.
This workshop provides educators with practical strategies to foster curiosity, problem-solving, and collaboration among students, using materials that are easy to source and budget-friendly. Come ready to experiment, share ideas, and leave with actionable tools to inspire your students in the world of physics.
IOLab – a multi-sensor device for K1-College
Sunday, April 6
Morten Lundsgaard, Department of Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The IOLab is a wireless data acquisition system of comparable size and weight to that of a graphing calculator, and thus highly portable. It contains more than twenty sensors or inputs, including a 3D accelerometer, a 3D magnetometer, a 3D gyroscope, wheels which record position, velocity, and acceleration, a force probe, and both analog and digital inputs. Data can be analyzed in the free IOLab software itself or can be exported to a comma separated value file for later analysis. There is a Mac/Windows and a Chromebook version of the software. In the workshop, the participants first quickly try out the different sensors of the iOLab to get a sense of opportunities that the iOLab offers. Next complete an open-ended lab from the introductory physics courses at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Finally, participants will explore other features of the iOLab at various stations including a two-wire ECG-measurement! Participants will get access to an online course that contains prelab and lab ideas for both high school and college.
To make the IOLab experience more authentic, participants should bring their own computer or Chromebook to the workshop.
For more information on the iOLab, see http://www.iolab.science.
Host: Nathan Frank (nathanfrank@augustana.edu)
