Physics Bridge Program

物理桥梁课程

• 批准号: 1143070
• 负责人: Theodore Hodapp
• 金额: $ 300.41万
• 依托单位: American Physical Society
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-15 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1143070&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Physics; Bridge; Program

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.

在教育不断增长的非洲裔、西班牙裔和美洲原住民人口方面，物理学在科学学科中排名垫底。这种情况并没有得到改善，因为在过去十年中，授予美国公民中代表性不足的少数民族（URM）的物理学博士学位比例约为5-6%，并没有增加。我们建议在未来十年内，提高URM学生获得物理学博士学位的比例，使其更能代表URM目前获得物理学学士学位的比例。年代度。为此，我们将建立一个以可持续研究为重点的全国性项目网络，为URM学生接受本科教育的机构向顶尖研究型大学的过渡架起桥梁。美国物理学会（APS）在催化行动和利用资源以成功实现这些目标以及为物理研究生教育带来可持续变化方面占据着独特的地位。该项目将建立“桥梁经验”，帮助不同的学生准备并过渡到物理学博士学习。这些桥梁体验将采用现有项目的最佳实践，并遵循硕士学位？s学位或学士学位后的例子。我们召集了博士学位授予机构（dgi）、少数民族服务机构（msi）和相关组织，告知并帮助建立一项全国性的努力，为改善支持、指导和进度监测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测试平台，因为只需要少量的学生就可以证明成功地减轻了目前在向博士学习过渡过程中发生的损失。我们选择把重点放在博士生身上，因为这些学生将成为未来领导者的骨干，他们可以促进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、记录和传播最佳实践，这些实践可以作为其他学科的典范，以鼓励更多的国家？美国有能力的少数族裔本科生攻读博士学位。该项目将利用现有的桥梁经验知识，在提高少数民族博士水平的参与方面表现出有效性。我们的项目包含了预测URM学生学业成功的支持结构的有力证据，并通过研究活动、合作和访问建立了msi和dgi之间的联系。开展物理学博士点录取、留校、GRE成绩与博士结业的关系研究。该项目将利用我们30多年来通过我们的少数民族奖学金计划及其相关的指导工作来支持少数民族的经验，我们与物理研究界的长期联系，以及我们通过物理教师教育联盟（physic）项目与个人和大学合作促进教师教育的十年努力。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与dgi之间的联系。此外，几乎每个STEM学生都选修物理学，显著增加少数族裔物理学博士的数量将增强物理学院和专业劳动力的多样性。这个项目是为了应对国家科学院提出的挑战。包括确保劳动力为科学和技术挑战带来多样化的视角。既然我们准备的很多博士生都会成为明天的人？作为学术界、工业界和政府的领导者，培养更多的少数族裔博士将在教育和激励系统各个阶段的学生方面产生倍增效应，并将有助于解决今天仍然存在的不平等问题。

项目成果

Fixed and growth mindsets in physics graduate admissions

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.13.020133
• 发表时间: 2017-11-29
• 期刊: PHYSICAL REVIEW PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Scherr, Rachel E.;Plisch, Monica;Hodapp, Theodore
• 通讯作者: Hodapp, Theodore

Investigating approaches to diversity in a national survey of physics doctoral degree programs: The graduate admissions landscape

全国物理学博士学位课程调查中调查多样性的方法：研究生招生情况

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevphyseducres.13.020142
• 发表时间: 2017
• 期刊: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Potvin, Geoff;Chari, Deepa;Hodapp, Theodore
• 通讯作者: Hodapp, Theodore