Diversity Corner

APS Bridge Program Places Students in Graduate Programs
The APS Bridge Program was able to facilitate the placement of at least 14 students into physics bridge programs or directly into graduate programs. Seven students were named Bridge Fellows at the newly selected APS Bridge sites University of South Florida and the Ohio State University. Each site was also able to admit one student directly into its graduate program. Students that applied to APS-BP were considered by other graduate programs, with sixteen offers of admission made to ten students. Five of these students accepted offers, and at press time, five students have offers pending, leaving the potential of APS assisting possibly up to 19 students into graduate programs in physics during the first year of the bridge program.

APS Diversity Working Group Formed
The APS executive office recently formed a Diversity Working Group (APS-DWG) to look broadly at diversity issues that concern the organization, including membership and staff. The APS-DWG is composed of 10 APS staff members who work with different areas of operation, including publishing, membership, meetings, prizes and awards, public affairs, education, diversity, and human resources, among others. The charge to the group includes gathering statistics on diversity, assessing climate among staff, and making recommendations to the executive officers. The APS-DWG will work in collaboration with the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and the Committee on Minorities.

2014 Professional Skills Development Workshops for Women
The American Physical Society, with support from NSF, will host two Professional Skills Development Workshops in 2014 for female physicists. Applicants affiliated with a US institution/facility are eligible to be considered for travel and lodging funding. Those needing funding assistance are encouraged to apply early. The deadlines for the workshops and a link to the online application can be found on the Professional Skills Development web page.

APS Scholarships for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors
The APS Scholarships for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors is a merit-based scholarship with the goal of increasing the number of underrepresented minority students obtaining physics bachelor's degrees. Any high school senior, college freshman or sophomore who is an African American, Hispanic American or Native American US citizen or permanent legal resident, is eligible to apply. The online application opens on November 1 and the deadline for applying is February 7.

APS Bridge Program Request for Proposals
The 2013 APS Bridge Program (APS-BP) Request for Proposals (RFP) for new Bridge Sites is now available on their Request for Proposals web page. The primary goal of the APS-BP is to increase the number of underrepresented minorities who are awarded PhDs in physics. The deadline for submitting an initial proposal is October 4, 2013. In the 2012-2013 RFP solicitation, we received and reviewed twenty-four initial proposals, and of these, seven advanced to the full proposal submission process. Two of these were selected to become Bridge Sites.

A webinar on the APS Bridge Program RFP will be held on September 20 at 12:00 pm ET. To participate, please register for the webinar at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/636404230.