Focus on Physics

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The Focus on Physics program at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, aims to increase the retention and academic success of its undergraduate physics majors. The President's Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST) report asserts that increasing the retention of STEM majors is "the lowest cost, fastest policy option" for meeting the country's need for STEM-educated professionals. The Physics Department at UMD Focus on Physics program was successfully implemented in 2012. This project supports 24 scholars (3 two-year cohorts of 8 students each) in attaining a baccalaureate degree. The project is unique in that the program is designed to explore retention. The critical purpose of this project is to equip and enhance the original program by providing academic and financial support to students with both academic merit and financial need while they are completing upper-level requirements for the physics major. The Focus on Physics project builds on current new courses and seminars aimed at retaining incoming physics majors. The project promises to significantly improve overall retention for students graduating with physics bachelor's degrees. The program provides: strong academic support and a cohesive community of entering freshman and transfer students, financial support for students who have successfully completed the introductory sequence (usually by end of second year), clear expectations of what it takes to successfully complete an undergraduate degree in physics, and career planning information and advice to assist students in finding jobs or applying to graduate school after completing their degrees. Scholarships allow students to "focus on physics."These retention efforts draw on research and are modeled in part on other successful undergraduate STEM retention programs, de-emphasize remediation and emphasize collaborative group work on challenging problems, early research opportunities, mentoring, and community building. In addition, careful evaluation by the Physics Education Research Group (PERG) of the methods implemented in this program will provide insight into the efficacy of various retention methods. The results of a thorough evaluation of how retention rates change in response to the innovations and scholarships made possible by this project at the University of Maryland, one of the largest and most diverse physics departments with over 300 undergraduate majors, are disseminated to other STEM departments at the university and in other physics departments nationwide.