Todd Springer

Education

B.A. Carleton College (Physics)

Ph.D. University of Minnesota (Physics)

Research Interests

I have interests both in fundamental physics and in physics education.

On the physics side, I am interested in the physics of heavy-ion collisions—what happens when two heavy nuclei traveling close to the speed of light collide with each other? In such collisions, an extremely hot liquid called the quark-gluon plasma is formed; this state of matter was also the dominant form of energy in our universe a few microseconds after the Big Bang. I have worked to understand the thermodynamics and fluid-like properties of this state of matter.

In addition, I spend a lot of my time thinking about pedagogy and physics education. How can our physics courses be improved to strengthen student learning? I am a firm believer in cooperative group problem solving and peer instruction, as well as the use of e-learning resources to promote deep conceptual understanding.

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

American Association of Physics Teachers

Awards

Dean’s Teaching Award - Ryerson University - 2019

Aneesur Rahman Prize - Physics Department, University of Minnesota - 2009

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship - Graduate School, University of Minnesota 2008-2009

Publications

B. Ling, T. Springer, M. Stephanov. "Hydrodynamics of charge fluctuations and balance functions." Physical Review C 89 (6), 064901 (2014)

T. Springer, C. Gale, S. Jeon, S.H. Lee. "Shear spectral sum rule in a nonconformal gravity dual." Physical Review D 82 (10), 106005 18 (2010)

J.I. Kapusta, T. Springer. "Potentials for soft-wall AdS/QCD." Physical Review D 81 (8), 086009 (2010)

T. Springer. "Sound mode hydrodynamics from bulk scalar fields." Physical Review D 79 (4), 046003 (2009)

T. Springer. "Second order hydrodynamics for a special class of gravity duals." Physical Review D 79 (8), 086003 (2009)

J.I. Kapusta, T. Springer. "Shear transport coefficients from gauge/gravity correspondence." Physical Review D 78 (6), 066017 (2008)

Editorial Boards

Associate Editor, American Journal of Physics

Expertise

High Energy Nuclear Physics, Heavy Ion Collisions, Physics Education