TM CSWP Vol. 29, No. 1 Spring 2010 The Newsletter of the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics of the American Physical Society GUEST EDITORIAL Quality & Quantity: Participation INSIDEGazette of Women and Minorities in Physics Guest Editorial By Saeqa Dil Vrtilek, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Member of CSWP 1 n January 2nd, one was unfriendly or deliberately put obstacles in my way, Oof my mainstays but it is hard to be the only one of one’s kind in any Women of Color in during graduate school environment. And I had more than gender to separate Physics Departments will visit from Berlin. me: I was small, I had dark skin, I was a foreigner, I 1 When I was a graduate spoke with an accent, I was older and already married, student, Yvonne, the de- I had an impossible name, and a not entirely amenable Minority Bridge partment administrative personality. When I emerged in 1985 with my PhD and Program is Launched assistant, was the only a US citizenship I was on top of the world. Although 2 other woman around: I regularly descend to the depths, I always come right there were no other fe- back up: Yvonne and I “made it” but not everyone African American male graduate students, does. I would wish support such as I received from Women Saeqa Dil Vrtilek no female post-docs, Yvonne for every minority, but barring that possibility, 4 and no female faculty. I believe it is numbers that matter. Yvonne was one of the thousands who work a job in At my undergraduate institution, the percent of Gender Equity New York while pursuing a career in music or the arts, female physics majors has gone from 2% when I was Conversations Project but she is one of the rare few who made it. She had there to 25% in 2006. This is tremendous progress. 5 her Carnegie Hall debut while I was still a graduate When the ratio of female to male undergraduates student, went to Germany with a Phillip Glass opera, reaches 50%, we will have achieved numerical parity Alessandra Lanzara and there she has been ever since (I found her a few for one issue in at least one institution. And it can be is MGM Winner years ago on the web as the title role in Aida). I have no done: if an increase by a factor of 12 can happen in 6 doubt the same strength that led her to fulfill her dream 32 years, surely an increase by a factor of two will not helped me to fulfill mine. It is not that my department continued on page 11 Ask the Physics Mentor Women of Color in Physics Departments: A Data Snapshot 6 By Rachel Ivie, Statistical Research Center, American Institute of Physics Katherine Freese Elected to Fellowship ost readers know that there are very few women are either not yet available or have not been widely dis- 7 Mof color in physics, and it is important to know seminated among the physics community. This article exactly how few there are. However, the numbers alone will document the tiny numbers of women of color do not adequately portray the day-to-day inequality that in physics and will also point to areas of potential in- Women Named to women of color experience in physics. In my years of equality about which we have no data. These include Fellowships, Prizes, studying women in physics, I have seen many people hiring, salaries, promotions, working conditions, and Awards 8 make the mistake of assuming that if the representation the general experiences of women of color in physics. of women in physics increases to some “acceptable” level, then the problem of inequality will be solved. Representation. Figure 1 (bachelor’s degrees), Table Events at March/April This is far from the truth. While it is essential to docu- 1 (PhDs), and Table 2 (faculty members) show just Meetings ment and remedy the small numbers of women of color how small the numbers of women of color in physics 12 in physics, it is also necessary to collect data on other are. At the beginning of the academic pipeline, there areas of inequality so that they can be addressed. To is only a trickle of women of color into physics, and Forms my knowledge, a few researchers have begun to collect the numbers don’t improve farther along. For compari- 13-15 these data (Maria Ong, TERC, and Sharon Fries-Britt, son, approximately 5000 people, mostly white male University of Maryland, for example), but the results continued on page 3 2 The Editor for this issue: APS Launches New Minority Bridge Program Saeqa Vrtilek By Gabe Popkin, APS Education Program Manager Harvard-Smithsonian CfA he APS recently launched a program to increase Faculty at minority-serving institutions confirm Managing Editor Tthe number of under-represented minority (URM) that their students tend toward fields with high-visibil- Sue Otwell, APS Staff physics doctoral recipients in the US. The new Minor- ity career pathways, such as medicine and engineering. ity Bridge Program (MBP) will facilitate the transi- “The student population we serve at the University Members of the Committee tion of minority physics majors to graduate programs of Texas at San Antonio is primarily first-generation, in physics via bridge programs between institutions making engineering programs a popular choice. What Lidija Sekaric, Chair where these students earn their bachelor’s degrees and we find, however, is that a lot of our engineering stu- US Dept. of Energy PhD-granting research institutions. dents are actually more interested in physics,” says Premala Chandra Currently, URMs (defined for this purpose as in- Lorenzo Brancaleon, a physics professor at UTSA. Rutgers University cluding African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and In the first phase of the project, APS staff are Native-Americans) make up a third of the country’s visiting institutions that educate a significant number Kawtar Hafidi Argonne National college-age population and around ten percent of the of minorities to talk to undergraduates and faculty Laboratory undergraduate physics majors in the country, but re- members and identify their needs. “Personal contact ceive only five to six percent of the physics PhDs, with URM students is crucial in remediating the lack Apriel Hodari according to data from the US Department of Educa- of awareness of physics careers. We won’t succeed by CNA tion. “Minorities are under-represented in physics at just mailing a brochure,” Hodapp maintains. Eliane Lessner all steps along the education pathway,” says Theodore Project leaders are also assessing the commitment US Dept. of Energy Hodapp, Director of Education and Diversity at APS. levels and resources available at a number of research “We have chosen to address the gap between bach- institutions. A conference bringing together students Saeqa Vrtilek Harvard-Smithsonian elor’s and PhD recipients because this is where we can and faculty from minority-serving institutions, faculty CfA have the greatest impact.” MBP project leaders hope to and administrators from research institutions, and rep- close this gap through a multi-pronged approach that resentatives of successful existing bridge programs is APS Liaisons includes the identification of students with an interest planned for June 2010. The outcome will be a set of in pursuing graduate degrees in physics, career guid- operational plans for successful bridge programs spe- Theodore Hodapp ance, development of appropriate undergraduate re- cifically tailored to physics undergraduates. Funding Director, Education & Diversity search opportunities, financial support, and mentoring. for the current efforts comes from the National Science “While several programs exist to increase the Foundation. Sue Otwell number of science, technology, engineering, and math “The under-representation of minorities in phys- Women & Education (STEM) undergraduates going on to PhD programs, ics graduate programs is especially troubling because Programs Administrator they tend to have limited success in physics,” says Mi- it leads to a shortage of minority faculty who can serve Leanne Poteet chelle Iacoletti, who manages the MBP for APS. “The as mentors to minority students,” says APS President Graphic Designer challenge unique to physics is one of applicability. Cherry Murray, who chairs the MBP’s steering com- Most minority students aren’t aware of the careers they mittee. “We hope our efforts will ultimately lead to Publication Information can pursue with a physics degree, and lack role models benefits for students at all educational levels.” The CSWP GAZETTE, a with careers in science. Therefore, career awareness is For more information, visit www.aps.org/mbp. n newsletter of the American a big focus of our program.” Physical Society Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP), is mailed free of charge to all those listed on the “Roster of Women in Physics,” all U.S. physics department chairs, and others upon request. Because editorial responsibility rotates among CSWP members, please address all correspondence to: CSWP Gazette, American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, or email to: [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the APS or of Michelle Iacoletti, Project Manager for the APS Minority Bridge Program (dark suit, center) with physics students at the CSWP. the Mayagüez campus of the University of Puerto Rico. 3 Women of Color in Physics Departments, continued from page 1 US citizens, earn bachelor’s degrees in physics an- nually. In 2007, only 181 women of color (including FIGURE 1 NUMBER OF WOMEN OF COLOR EARNING BACHELOR’S DEGREES IN PHYSICS IN THE US, 1995-2007 Asian American women) earned bachelor’s degrees in physics.