EAGER: Doubling Minority PhDs in Physics

渴望：少数族裔物理学博士人数增加一倍

• 批准号: 0958333
• 负责人: Theodore Hodapp
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: American Physical Society
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-10-01 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0958333&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Doubling; Minority; PhDs; Physics

Physics as a community ranks at the bottom of science disciplines in educating the growing US population of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Native-Americans. Not only do these ethnic groups remain significantly under-represented at all levels in physics, but there has been essentially no improvement in their relative numbers over the past decade. PhD awards to Black, Hispanic, and Native American citizens are at 1/7th the rate of awards to white and Asian citizens relative to the size of their underlying population. There are 180 PhD programs in physics in American Universities. If 10% of these programs were able to increase their citizen Black and Hispanic graduates by two per year this would double the annual production of minority PhDs in physics. The American Physical Society, working together with the larger physics community, is taking a leadership role and in activating programs to double the number of PhDs awarded to under-represented minorities (URMs) within the next decade by establishing effective and sustainable bridge programs between top research universities and institutions where undergraduate URMs are educated. There is a substantial body of knowledge that has resulted from several decades of efforts to increase the effective participation of under-represented groups (and all groups) in higher education in STEM fields. In physics there are a growing number of physics education research groups producing important gains in understanding about undergraduates' conceptual difficulties in learning basic physics. Because most of these groups are at major research universities, they are in a position to directly influence physics TA training, which will positively impact the instructional effectiveness in undergraduate physics courses in these institutions. The focus on doctoral students will have a multiplier effect on attraction and retention of under-represented minority students at the undergraduate, masters, and PhD levels. Successful doctoral students will form a cadre of leaders who can catalyze change throughout the country. Doubling the number of PhD graduates from these groups will create a greater corps of individuals who can take on important leadership roles. To begin this process APS is reaching out to the students and faculty at minority-serving institutions to establish effective, personal links. It is gathering detailed data directly from these individuals to inform the larger process. Following data collection, APS will bring together leaders from top research universities committed to establishing effective bridge programs. Existing programs and leaders within the physics community are guiding this process. Throughout this process guidance is being provided by a steering committee of knowledgeable individuals committed to improving the attraction and retention of under-represented groups in physics higher education, who have the wherewithal to move the project forward thoughtfully and deliberately. The outcome of this effort will be a set of concrete plans to establish such programs.

物理学作为一个社区，在教育日益增长的美国非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人和美洲原住民方面，在科学学科中排名垫底。不仅这些族群在物理学各个层面上的代表性仍然明显偏低，而且在过去十年里，他们的相对人数基本上没有改善。授予黑人、西班牙裔和美洲原住民博士学位的比例是白人和亚裔公民相对于其潜在人口规模的七分之一。美国大学里有180个物理学博士项目。如果这些项目中的10%能够使公民黑人和西班牙裔毕业生每年增加两名，这将使少数民族物理学博士的年产量翻一番。美国物理学会与更大的物理界合作，正在发挥领导作用，并启动一些计划，通过在顶尖研究型大学和接受本科少数族裔教育的机构之间建立有效和可持续的桥梁计划，在未来十年内将授予未被充分代表的少数群体(URM)的博士数量翻一番。经过几十年的努力，使人数不足的群体(和所有群体)更有效地参与STEM领域的高等教育，积累了大量知识。在物理学领域，越来越多的物理教育研究小组在了解本科生在学习基础物理方面的概念困难方面取得了重要成果。由于这些群体大多在重点研究型大学，他们能够直接影响物理助教培训，这将对这些机构的本科物理课程的教学效果产生积极影响。对博士生的关注将对吸引和留住本科、硕士和博士水平的未被充分代表的少数民族学生产生乘数效应。成功的博士生将形成一支领导干部队伍，他们能够在全国范围内推动变革。将这些群体的博士毕业生数量翻一番，将造就一支更强大的个人队伍，他们可以担任重要的领导角色。为了开始这一过程，APS正在接触少数族裔服务机构的学生和教职员工，以建立有效的个人联系。它正在直接从这些个人那里收集详细数据，为更大的过程提供信息。在数据收集之后，APS将汇集致力于建立有效桥梁项目的顶尖研究型大学的领导人。物理学界现有的项目和领导者正在指导这一进程。在整个过程中，由知识渊博的个人组成的指导委员会提供指导，这些人致力于改善物理学高等教育中代表性不足群体的吸引力和留存力，他们有必要的资金来深思熟虑和刻意地推动项目向前发展。这一努力的结果将是一套建立此类计划的具体计划。