Saverio E. Spagnolie
@sespagnolie.bsky.social
1.4K followers 450 following 410 posts
Professor of Mathematics; Chemical & Biological Engineering, UW-Madison. I dig biological fluid dynamics, soft matter physics, and numerical methods. Vijayanagara (GMT Games). https://people.math.wisc.edu/~spagnolie/
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Current members of the Madison Applied Math Lab.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Reminds me of an older set of membrane notes. A primer, if you will.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Engineer, physicist, Cedric Villani
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Psst, your students want to hang out in Boulder next July. Application deadline is Jan. 15.

www.colorado.edu/conference/b...
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Astounding!! This must have been so much fun to explore. I enjoyed the short Bluetorial as well.
babakvh.bsky.social
Excited to see this paper out @pnas.org

Microbial self-organization in response to self-made oxygen gradients! 🦠 🔄 🍥
babakvh.bsky.social
Excited to release our latest work:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Here, we describe how confined bacterial suspensions self-organize into structured domains of different motilities, in response to oxygen limitations🦠🍥

Bluetorial follows! [1/8]
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Me: Describes the Ship of Theseus.

Wife: "Oh it's Van Halen."
Reposted by Saverio E. Spagnolie
metrowargamers.bsky.social
Some of us had the day off from work so we got Vijayanagara from @gmtgames.bsky.social on the table at the club.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Without describing the experiment (soon!), please just enjoy with me a case where a simple model meets the data this well. Oh man. Math, I tell you. Good stuff.
Reposted by Saverio E. Spagnolie
markusdeserno.bsky.social
I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪

Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360

PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!

Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:

1/10
Tenure-track Position in Biophysics at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Open Date: Sep 19, 2025

Description
The Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics. The appointment is intended to be at the Assistant Professor level, but exceptional candidates at a higher level may also be considered. We seek outstanding candidates with a strong record in cellular and subcellular biophysics. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, uncovering how key characteristics of living systems arise from the interplay between supramolecular cellular structures, how the emergent cellular circuitry defines goals and enables robust decision making, and how metabolic resources are allocated. This encompasses understanding of how information is learned, stored, transduced, and processed across subcellular structures. Applicants with theoretical, data science, or experimental backgrounds within biological physics are encouraged to apply. The ideal candidate will strengthen and extend research programs of current biophysics faculty in the Department of Physics and collaborate with broader life science activities across many departments at CMU and the wider Pittsburgh area.

More details on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/174360
sespagnolie.bsky.social
I think I want 'golden age' to imply growth and dynamism. We could slide pretty far down in the US and still be leading the world in many metrics. But it sure won't feel like a 'golden age' while we contract, in part because quality will drop off.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Here's one from the first site (since it's working right now), a more focused look at higher ed (HERD). China is the red line that's going up up up.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Yeah that site seems buggy, sometimes it cuts out. Here's a different site. This is gross domestic expenditures on R&D though (GERD), which includes more than just higher-ed R&D support.

ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb2025...
sespagnolie.bsky.social
"At 8.7%, growth in R&D expenditure in China continued to surpass... the US(1.7%)&EU(1.6%) in 2023." But that's generic. "R&D in government sector institutions: up 2.5%; in higher education: 1.7%." I can't help but to link government sector / higher Ed.

www.oecd.org/en/data/insi...
R&D spending growth slows in OECD, surges in China; government support for energy and defence R&D rises sharply
OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators March 2025 data release.
www.oecd.org
sespagnolie.bsky.social
China, ever on the rise. India too. If golden age means active investment and growth.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
It really tends to be a waste of time. The only times I've seen benefits are when 'workshopping' a sentence or maybe a paragraph that I've already written. And then 50% of the time I just keep my draft as is.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Friends in Canada and Europe are asking me if it's safe to travel to Houston this November for the big annual conference in our field.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
If you see this, quote the energy you bring to Bluesky.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
What poster did you have hanging in your room as a kid?
sespagnolie.bsky.social
It is not the best name for the theorem.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
The biking infrastructure in Minneapolis is inspired.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Having missed this recommendation we drove through County Galway and County Mayo in late August. But it was not so bad.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
But then if you're not careful, someone can make you spill it all over everything and everyone.
sespagnolie.bsky.social
Ruin a book by adding Tom Clancy’s name to the title

Tom Clancy’s Principles of Mathematical Analysis
doctorbowring.bsky.social
Ruin a book by adding Tom Clancy’s name to the title

Tom Clancy’s What to Expect When You’re Expecting