Gary Gladding

Gary Gladding, a high energy experimentalist, joined the Department of Physics at Illinois as an assistant professor in 1973, after receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1971. He is currently involved in experiments using the silicon vertex detector (CLEO II) at the Wilson Synchrotron Laboratory at Cornell University to study charmed meson decays. Earlier, he made numerous original contributions to high energy experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, where he was involved in experiments measuring the decay of B mesons produced in the decays of the Z0 boson (SLD collaboration) and the initial detailed studies of particles containing the charmed quark (MARK III collaboration). He also contributed to the first studies of the photoproduction of particles containing the charmed quark at Fermilab.

Since 1996, Professor Gladding has led the faculty group responsible for the success of the massive curriculum revision that has transformed the introductory physics curriculum here at Illinois. This effort has involved more than 50 faculty and improved physics instruction for more than 25,000 science and engineering undergraduate students. He has shifted his research focus over the last five years to physics education research (PER) and currently leads the PER research group. He is also heavily involved in preparing at-risk students for success in physics coursework through the development of Physics 100.

Research Area: Physics Education Research

Awards:

• Associate, Center for Advanced Study, 1988
• Scott Rose Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, College of Engineering, 1998
• BP AMOCO Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois, 2001
• Fellow, American Physical Society, 1999
• Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, American Association of Physics Teachers, 2005

Publications:

• M. Scott, T. Stelzer, and G. Gladding, “Evaluating Multiple-choice Exams in Large Introductory Physics Courses,” Physical Review Special Topcics - Physics Education Research 2, 020102 (2006)
• T.E. Browder et al. (CLEO Collaboration), “Observation of High Momentum h^¢ Production in B decays,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1786-1790 (1998).
• S. Anderson et al. (CLEO Collaboration), “First Search for CP Violation in Tau Lepton Decay,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3823-3827 (1998).
• R. Ammar et al. (CLEO Collaboration), “A Limit on the Mass of the Tau Neutrino,” Phys. Lett. B 431, 209-218 (1998).
• M. S. Alam et al. (CLEO Collaboration), “Further Search for the Two Photon Production of the Glueball Candidate ƒ_J(2220),” Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3328-3332 (1998).
• M. Athanas et al. (CLEO Collaboration), “First Observation of the Cabibbo Suppressed Decay B+®Anti-D⁰K⁺,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5493-5497 (1998).

Abbreviated CV