NSF INCLUDES: A National Network for Access and Inclusion in Physics Graduate Education

物理学授予女性博士的比例(19%)和代表不足的少数族裔和少数族裔(7%)的比例比科学领域的任何其他领域都要低，在一些精选的大学中，代表性不足的情况尤为明显。随着全球对科学人才的竞争升温，以及美国人口结构的变化，培养一支强大的国内劳动力对美国的技术领先地位至关重要。我们寻求在成功的美国物理学会桥梁计划(apsbridge geProgram.org)的基础上，通过改革物理学研究生教育来全面支持女性以及少数族裔和少数族裔的加入。我们的愿景是创建一个由纪律同事、专家研究人员和专业协会代表组成的全国网络，他们将发展和建立以证据为基础的知识，了解招募、录取和留住妇女和代表性较低的少数民族和少数族裔的有效做法。这个试点项目将包括六个大型的、高度选择性的物理学研究生项目，以演示和制定一个跨学科努力的计划。试点的重点是改善招生做法，因为这一战略承诺立即产生可衡量的影响，并得到现有研究的支持。试点还将采取探索性步骤，制定可扩展的招聘和留住战略。为了完善干预措施，我们将进行研究，以确定和了解物理研究生项目中基于人口统计的失败点，并了解网络参与如何促进变化。该项目还将与其他STEM学科建立联系，从数学和化学开始，探索扩大这些努力。该项目的基础是研究研究生教育的多样性、组织学习以及促进文化变革的网络资源。项目团队包括机构改革、研究生招生、学生成功、多样化和包容性环境以及社会科学研究方面的专业知识。该试点推进了一项关于纳入STEM的新的研究议程，解决了物理学研究生教育中的招聘、录取和保留作为教师学习、专业网络和学科文化变化的相互关联的挑战。物理学研究生课程将报告招生数据和通用指标，并将记录项目活动造成的变化。教师将接受关于整体招生和遴选过程中的多样性的培训，并在使用包容性招生做法方面得到指导。一名外部评估员将审查项目的有效性和扩展到联盟阶段项目的准备情况。

Physics awards smaller percentages of PhDs to women (19%) and underrepresented ethnic and racial minorities (7%) than any other field in the sciences, and underrepresentation is especially pronounced at selective universities. As global competition for scientific talent heats up and US demographics shift, cultivating a robust domestic workforce is critical to US technological leadership. We seek to build on the successful American Physical Society Bridge Program (apsbridgeprogram.org) by transforming physics graduate education to fully support the inclusion of women and ethnic and racial minorities. Our vision is to create a national network of disciplinary colleagues, expert researchers, and representatives from professional associations who will develop and build evidence-based knowledge of effective practices for recruitment, admissions, and retention of women and underrepresented ethnic and racial minorities. This pilot project will include six large, highly selective physics graduate programs to demonstrate and map out a plan for a discipline-wide effort. The pilot focuses on improving admissions practices, because this strategy promises immediate and measurable impact backed by extant research. The pilot will also take exploratory steps to develop scalable recruitment and retention strategies. To refine interventions, we will conduct research to identify and understand demographically-based loss points of students in graduate physics programs and to understand how network participation facilitates change. The project will also establish connections with other STEM disciplines, beginning with mathematics and chemistry, to explore expanding these efforts. This project is grounded in research on diversity in graduate education, organizational learning, and the resources of networks to catalyze cultural change. The project team includes expertise in institutional change, graduate admissions, student success, diverse and inclusive environments, and social science research. The pilot advances a novel research agenda on inclusion in STEM by addressing recruitment, admissions, and retention in physics graduate education as interconnected challenges of faculty learning, professional networks, and disciplinary cultural change. Physics graduate programs will report admissions data and common metrics, and will document changes resulting from project activities. Faculty will be trained on holistic admissions and diversity in selection processes, and be guided in the use of inclusive admissions practices. An external evaluator will examine project effectiveness and readiness for scaling to an Alliance phase project.