About the Living Physics Portal

The Living Physics Portal is an online environment for physics faculty to share and discuss free curricular resources for teaching introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS). The objective of the Portal is to improve the education of the next generation of medical professionals and biologists by making physics classes more relevant for life sciences students. We do this by supporting physics instructors in finding and creating curricular materials and engaging in community discussions with other instructors to improve their courses.

What is an introductory physics for life science (IPLS) course?

Undergraduates who major in life sciences (biology, physiology, pre-med, physical therapy, etc.) are often required to take introductory physics, but find the content of the course lacks relevance to their future careers. But, physics is actually incredibly relevant and foundational to life sciences content. To bridge this gap, innovative physics faculty from around the US are developing fantastic new curricula that integrate physics and life sciences to make it exciting and relevant for life sciences students. These new life-science relevant courses are usually housed in physics department and are called “Introductory Physics for Life Science” (IPLS) courses.

What can I do with the Living Physics Portal?

Find relevant IPLS materials for an entire course or part of a course
Contribute & review IPLS teaching materials
Join a growing community of faculty committed to innovative teaching in IPLS courses
Find support for learning about new pedagogies and interdisciplinary content for IPLS

We aim to be not just a repository of online instructional resources, but a thriving community working on educational change. We intend for the Living Physics Portal to develop a thriving community that:

communicates with one another regularly,
seeks support from one another,
provides support to one another, and
uses these tools to sustain constructive professional collaborations.

Who can I contact if I have more questions about the Living Physics Portal?

Email us at info@livingphysicsportal.org.

Who created the Living Physics Portal?

The Portal is created and administered by an interdisciplinary team of physicists, biologists, researchers, developers, and user experience designers at the American Association of Physics Teachers and 8 collaborating colleges and universities.

American Association of Physics Teachers:

Bob Hilborn (PI)
Sam McKagan (director)
Adrian Madsen (assistant director)
Bruce Mason (ComPADRE integration director)
Michael Thenhaus (software engineer)
Lyle Barbato (software engineer)

University of Maryland:

Edward F. Redish (seed contributor, NEXUS/Physics)
Chandra Turpen (community and research director)
Mary Chessey (postdoctoral associate)
Stephanie Williams (research associate)
Remy Dou (former postdoctoral associate)
Alice Olmstead (former postdoctoral associate)

Portland State University:

Ralf Widenhorn (seed contributor, Physics in Medicine: Active Learning Tools for Undergraduate Physics)

Rockhurst University:

Nancy Donaldson (seed contributor, Physics of Medicine)

University of New Hampshire:

Dawn Meredith (seed contributor, Modeling Physics in an Integrated Physics Course for Biologists / Fluids for Life Science Students)

Mercy College:

Nancy Beverly (seed contributor, Life-focused physics and the Humanized Physics Project)

Swarthmore College:

Catherine Crouch (seed contributor, Introductory Physics with Biological and Medical Applications)
Benjamin Geller (seed contributor, Introductory Physics with Biological and Medical Applications)

George Washington University:

Mark Reeves (seed contributor, Bio-focused Introductory Physics Course)
Phoebe Sharp (graduate research assistant)

Michigan State University:

Vashti Sawtelle (seed contributor, Briggs Life Science Studio (BLiSS))
Abhilash Nair (former graduate research assistant)

Montgomery College:

Raluca Teodorescu (instructional content design director)

Theresa Neil Strategy + Design:

Mathew “Sandy” Martinuk (user experience designer)
Rachel Price (user experience designer and information architect)
Ivan Bachev (visual designer)
Stephanie Wilson-Wagner (design strategy manager)

Consultants:

Juan Burciaga (user guide developer)
Todd Cooke (editorial advisor)
Charles Walker (life science relevance expert)

Advisory Board:

Eric Brewe (physics, Drexel University)
Melanie Cooper (chemistry, Michigan State U.)
Michael Klymkowsky (biology, U. of Colorado)
Cathy Manduca (geoscience, SERC/Cutting ivEdge)
Joel Michael (medicine, Rush Medical College)
Michelle Smith (biology, U. of Maine)
Nawal Benmouna (physics, Montgomery College, Maryland)
Wolfgang Losert (biophysics, U. of Maryland)
Tim Mckay (physics, University of Michigan)

External Evaluator

Ellen Iverson (SERC, Carleton College)

How is the Living Physics Portal funded?

The initial development of the Living Physics Portal was funded through a National Science Foundation grant (award no. 1624185). All resources on the Living Physics Portal are free to use. Continued development and maintenance has been funded by generous donations from Joe Redish, and through partnerships with on-demand publishers and online homework deliverers that grant them non-exclusive rights to deliver selected materials for a fee. These partnerships support the long-term maintenance of the Portal, but do not prevent faculty from accessing materials directly from the Portal at no charge.