Diversity Corner

APS to form ad hoc committee on LGBT issues
In response to a formal request from the LGBT+ Physicists, APS will form an ad hoc committee to investigate the status of physicists who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT), and other sexual and gender minorities. Little is known about the numbers of LGBT+ physicists and there has been no systematic study of the issues they face. The LGBT+ Physicists have organized networking events and roundtable discussions at APS meetings, and held an invited session on Sexual and Gender Diversity Issues in Physics at the 2012 APS March Meeting. They have also put together a best practices guide for physics departments, which is available along with other resources at http://lgbtphysicists.org

APS Bridge Summer Meeting
June 25-27, 2014 - College Park, MD
http://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/conferences/summer14/index.cfm

The APS Bridge Program Summer Meeting will bring together experts to discuss efforts to increase the number of underrepresented minorities (URMs) who receive PhDs in physics. This year’s conference will focus on exploring and understanding the role of the MS degree in promoting URMs in physics. Workshops, panel discussions, and presentations will address topics including

• Establishing relationships among MS-granting and PhD-granting institutions
• Role of master’s degrees for URM students
• Barriers to student advancement to the PhD
• Mentoring
• Non-cognitive admissions measures

Who should attend: faculty, students, and administrators interested in increasing the number of underrepresented students pursuing PhDs in physics. Registration is now open.

APS CSWP Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program Inspires Astronomy Community
At the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in Indianapolis in June 2013, the AAS Council approved a proposal by the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy to implement Climate Site Visits for astronomy departments. These site visits are modeled on the highly successful visits done by the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) for physics departments. More details are available at: http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/01/cswa-climate-site-visit-program-for.html

PhysTEC Conference Offers Travel Support for Minority-Serving Institutions
Registration is now open for the PhysTEC Conference in Austin, Texas on May 19-20, held in conjunction with the UTeach Conference. The registration rate for PhysTEC member institutions is $150 and the non-member rate is $295; registration closes on May 1, 2014. Travel stipends of up to $800 are available to a limited number of minority-serving institutions.

The PhysTEC Conference is the nation’s largest meeting dedicated to physics teacher education. This year’s conference theme is “Building Leadership” and the conference features workshops, panel discussions, presentations by national leaders, and a contributed poster session. There will be a PhysTEC-UTeach joint plenary session by Arthur Levine, Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Other plenary speakers include Nicole Gillespie, Knowles Science Teaching Foundation; David E. Meltzer, Arizona State University; and Susan Singer, National Science Foundation Additional conference information can be found here at: http://www.phystec.org/conferences/2014