Physics Bridge Program

在教育日益增长的美国非洲裔、西班牙裔和土著美国人方面，物理学在科学学科中排名垫底。这种情况并没有改善，因为在过去十年里，美国公民中未被充分代表的少数族裔(URM)获得物理学博士的比例没有增加，约为5%-6%。我们建议，在未来十年内，增加授予URM学生的物理学博士学位的比例，使其达到更能代表目前获得物理学士学位的URM-S学位的比例的水平。我们将通过创建一个可持续的以研究为重点的项目的全国性网络来实现这一点，该项目将从URM学生接受本科教育的机构过渡到一流的研究型大学。美国物理学会(APS)在推动行动和利用资源实现这些目标和实现物理学研究生教育的可持续变革方面，在社区中占据着独特的地位。这个项目将建立“桥梁经验”，帮助不同的学生准备并过渡到物理学博士学习。这些桥梁经验将采用现有项目的最佳实践，并遵循硕士S学位或学士学位后的例子。我们汇集了博士授予机构(DGI)、少数民族服务机构(MSI)和相关组织，以提供信息并帮助建立一项全国性的努力，为改善支持、指导和进度监控提供可持续的解决方案，以确保学生顺利过渡并完成学业。物理学为桥梁体验提供了一个理想的试验台，因为只需要少量的学生证明成功地减轻了目前在过渡到博士学习过程中发生的损失。我们选择把重点放在博士生身上，因为这些学生将成为一批未来的领导者，他们可以催化国家科学教育的变革。此外，该项目的研究和评估部分将确定、记录和传播可作为其他学科的榜样的最佳实践，以鼓励全国更多的人--S有能力的未被代表的少数民族(URM)本科生攻读博士学位。这一计划将利用现有的桥牌经验知识，这些经验已经证明在增加博士水平的少数族裔参与方面是有效的。我们的项目结合了关于支持结构的有力证据，这些支持结构可以预测URM学生的学业成功，并通过研究活动、合作和访问在MSI和DGI之间建立联系。我们将对物理学博士项目的录取和保留进行研究，并研究GRE分数与成功完成博士学位的相关性。该计划将利用我们30多年来通过少数民族奖学金计划及其相关的指导努力支持少数族裔的经验，我们与物理研究社区的长期联系，以及我们与个人和大学合作的十年努力，通过物理教师教育联盟(PhysTEC)项目促进教师教育。该项目将为URM学生提供一种研究生教育模式，可应用于其他科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域，并改善MSI和DGI之间的联系。此外，几乎每个STEM学生都选修物理，大幅增加物理学的少数族裔博士数量将增强物理学院和专业劳动力的多样性。该项目旨在应对国家科学院提出的挑战？S报道，包括确保劳动力为科学和技术挑战带来多样化的视角。由于我们培养的许多博士生将成为明天的S学术、工业和政府领导人，培养更多的少数民族博士将在教育和激励系统各个阶段的学生方面产生乘数效应，并将有助于解决今天仍然存在的差距。

Physics ranks at the bottom of science disciplines in educating the growing US population of African-, Hispanic-, and Native-Americans. The situation is not improving, as the fraction of PhDs in physics awarded to underrepresented minorities (URM) among US citizens, about 5-6%, has not increased over the past decade. We propose to increase, within the next decade, the fraction of physics PhDs awarded to URM students toward levels more representative of the fraction of URMs that currently receive physics Bachelor?s degrees. We will do this by creating a national network of sustainable research-focused programs that bridge the transition from institutions where URM students receive their undergraduate education to top research universities. The American Physical Society (APS) occupies a unique position in the community to catalyze action and leverage resources to succeed in these goals and to bring about sustainable change in physics graduate education. This project will establish "Bridge Experiences" that will help diverse students prepare for and make the transition to doctoral studies in physics. These Bridge Experiences will adopt best practices from existing programs, and follow either a Master?s degree or a post-Baccalaureate example. We have brought together Doctoral Granting Institutions (DGIs), Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and concerned organizations to inform and help build a national effort that will offer sustainable solutions to improved support, mentoring, and progress monitoring to ensure that students make the transition smoothly and complete their studies. Physics offers an ideal test-bed for Bridge Experiences, as only modest numbers of students are required to demonstrate success in mitigating the losses that currently occur in the transition to doctoral studies. We choose to focus on doctoral students because these students will become a cadre of future leaders who can catalyze national change in science education. In addition, the research and assessment components of this project will identify, document, and disseminate best practices that can serve as a model for other disciplines to encourage more of the nation?s capable underrepresented minorities (URM) undergraduates to pursue doctoral degrees. Intellectual Merit This program will use existing knowledge of Bridge Experiences that have demonstrated effectiveness in increasing minority participation at the doctoral level. Our project incorporates strong evidence about support structures that predict academic success of URM students, and establishes links between MSIs and DGIs through research activities, collaboration, and visits. We will conduct research on admissions and retention in physics doctoral programs, and the correlation of GRE scores with successful completion of a PhD. The program will utilize our 30+ year experience in supporting minorities through our Minority Scholarship Program and its associated mentoring efforts, our long-standing connections with the physics research community, and our decade-long efforts in working with individuals and universities to promote teacher education through the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) project. Broader Impacts This project will provide a model of graduate education for URM students that can be applied to other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields as well as improved links between MSIs and DGIs. In addition, physics is taken by nearly every STEM student, and significantly increasing the number of minority PhDs in physics will enhance the diversity of the physics academy and professional workforce. This project is intended to meet the challenges posed by the National Academy?s report Rising Above the Gathering Storm, including ensuring that the workforce brings a diverse perspective to scientific and technological challenges. Since many doctoral students we prepare will become tomorrow?s academic, industrial and government leaders, educating more minority PhDs will have a multiplicative effect in educating and inspiring students at all stages in the system, and will help address disparities that persist today.