Some great fluid physics at wine tasting!

Pre-gamed graduation enough to finally order PhD regalia from Stony Brook because I am jealous of my colleagues with cooler robes than my generic Amazon ones.

Hooray for my awesome department!

Dynamite with a laser beam.

Make and take diffraction gratings for a field trip today!

At Hollywood actor is giving a talk at our local historical society in an old mission. This is some Midsomer Murders in So Cal shit.

A 12 cabin resort in Belize in an uncommonly rainy week is how murder mysteries begin. I am both here for it and want to get out before I am a suspect.

So excited to be doing a ton of stuff and meeting amazing folks at CU*IP!

Snacks for physicists.

No proper celebration until all the paperwork is done, but I think I just pulled the "Campus grant office messed up. Error in your favor." Chance card in Academic Monopoly.

Thesis feedback for my first ever masters student, who is amazing and basically supervised himself because I am the world's okayest advisor.

This is going to be either the best or dumbest thing I've put in my office.

Beat lecture slide of my career so far.

I have never related to a conference talk title more. #AAPTWM26

In Vegas for the AAPT meeting. The hotel is clearly ready for us. #AAPTWM26

My kid asked for an algebra book. He doesn't know what these mean but was very excited to show me his "first graphs" this morning.

My kid started writing his own math problems and he's really into E=mc^2 and Einstein for some reason. Wonder where he gets it.

New approach for academically dishonest students.

A "Faculty Learning Community" is not actually a Learning Community if you don't spend a significant amount of time building the community in the first place. End rant.

Currently reviewing internal grants and, I'm not sure if this is in the instructions but if it is, faculty should be penalized in the rankings if they put their names in what is supposed to be an anonymous proposal.

My department is hiring and looking for a physicist to join us! We are a lot of fun and have lots of candy and snacks so if that doesn't convince you to apply I don't know what will. (Also feel free to share this!) careers.csusb.edu/en-us/job/55...

Won a trophy this weekend. My kid told me I shoukd be proud and take it into work to show everyone.

Doing all the things, with ribbons to prove it, at the @calbridge.bsky.social Fall Conference.

AI is terrible for trivia writing research.

My latest Funsize Physics post on making Silly Putty and playing with polymers is up! funsizephysics.com/polymers-at-...

New art up on the office. Two year difference between the top and bottom.

Idea for the next big ESPN The Ocho sport: Full Contact Charades.

Found some light reading at an Air BNB.

Soccer camp is only a half day so someone is at work getting an optics lab tour complete with using a laser to burn Post-Its.

At the airport lounge and there's a guy at the bar working on slides about thin films and all I want to do it start talking to him about them.

Automatic email replies are runnning and Slack notifications are paused. Vacation time!

One of my awesome students and I just gave a joint talk at the Advanced Labs Physics Association meeting showing off his senior lab project building a low-cost spin coater. #AdvancedLab

Do bands on a multi-band "emo" night coordinate their cover songs for minimal overlap? I mean I am totally up for multiple versions of Scotty Doesn't Know but I don't need multiples of many other songs.

My mother sent me a New Jersey care package. Luckily the laundry and tan notes are much more pronounced than the gym ones.

I'm at a wedding for one of my students and I think this might be the first time the phrase "internal reference frame" has been used in a wedding vow.

Its finals weel and I went into an unused lab room to watch trash TV while I grade and students just started coming in and sitting down and studying and asking me things. Next time I silently grade in a dark room.

This government is going to ensure that the NSF follows its mission to "to foster scientific progress, improve national health and prosperity, and safeguard our nation’s security" by...checks notes...ending programs that help ALL AMERICANS participate in STEM. 😠🤮 www.nsf.gov/edu/updates/...

We want to know!

They’re making sure to get the Vatican national anthem some spins here because they know there’s no way any of the Cardinals are winning the 110m hurdles at the Olympics

TIL the Vatican had a marching band and I didn't expect the popening to sound line a small town USA July 4th parade.

Proof that it's not all in my head and, yes, I probably take on too much.

For those in the physics (and STEM) education sphere, one of my favorite FREE resources had it's funding cancelled by the NSF because this government hates 1) education and 2) equity and access to educational resources. Consider donating to sustain PhET! I just did! phet.colorado.edu

Now this is the type of cultural indoctrination in our schools that I can get behind.

Using a super fun Funsize Physics breakdown of the physics of twisting Oreos to talk about effective STEM communication. @scitalker.bsky.social funsizephysics.com/plot-twist-t...

It's grading time, necessitating the use of the Units stamp.

Going to have to see what Health and Safety thinks about the new addition to the Physics Study Lounge.

Me as soon as my talk is done at a conference. Credit to @elysegraham.bsky.social for using this as a quote in her book and to Goethe, I guess.

Reflecting on this trip, I really am inspired by a lot of the conversation about the convergence of science and the humanities. But my proudest moment was being told I was recommended for the event because I am a known "talkative scientist."

The Roundtable "The Two Cultures Natural Sciences and Humanities, Convergent Paths?" begins!

Casual encounters of science plus the Brno Dragon!