Morten Lundsgaard

Morten Lundsgaard is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), part of The Grainger College of Engineering. He has held academic positions since 2009 as Coordinator of Physics Teacher Development, focusing on physics education research and teacher professional development. Previously, he was a Research Associate at the University of Michigan (Science Education, 2007–2009), a high school teacher in Denmark (1999–2007), and a postdoctoral researcher in atomic physics at Utrecht University (1996–1999).

Education: Ph.D. in Physics from Kansas State University (1995), M.S. and B.S. in Physics/Mathematics from the University of Copenhagen (1991/1987). His research spans physics education, teacher development, and atomic physics. He has received the ISAAPT Distinguished Service Citation (2017) and has taught courses such as PHYS 100 (Thinking About Physics), PHYS 394 (Pedagogy Teaching Physics), and PHYS 398 LA (Soph/Junr Special Topics Phys), earning student recognition as an Excellent Teacher in 2018 and 2021.

Professional activities include leadership roles in the Illinois Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (ISAAPT), including President (2015) and President Elect (2018). He co-authored a 2007 magazine article on astrobiology and contributed to a $2.6M grant for the Illinois Physics and Secondary Schools (IPaSS) Partnership Program in Physics Education Research.