Improving Undergraduate Physics Education (IUPE) Award

The driving goal of Wellesley College Physics department is to change the face of physics by empowering our students who are ALL from traditionally marginalized groups. Because we seek change we are continually developing new approaches to research and teaching that are as welcoming as they are rigorous and as supportive as they are challenging. Our goal is to see every student at Wellesley with a passion, or even just an interest, in physics, succeed. At Wellesley, the first course in the physics major is an algebra based course on special relativity and quantum mechanics because not only are these topics at the forefront of physics, they are likely unfamiliar to almost every first-year student, putting all students on equal footing in their first college physics class. As an undergraduate-only institution, all of our courses are taught by faculty, not graduate students, but the entire department is supported by a strong network of peer learning assistants who mentor and guide younger students through the major. We offer research and independent-study opportunities to students starting in their first year, no experience required. Our students have an important voice in our department primarily through an active Society of Physics Students that organizes social events, panels, attends department meetings, and contributes to DEI efforts. Wellesley College is ranked first amongst all undergraduate-only institutions and sixth amongst ALL colleges and universities in the United States in conferring bachelor’s degrees in physics to women according to the AIP.

The University of California, Santa Cruz is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution within the University of California system. The physics department has maintained a robust enrollment, particularly for the size of our faculty, so rather than aiming primarily at growth, our efforts over the past decade began by emphasizing the improvement of retention and 4-year graduation rates, primarily by careful study and rectification of barriers in the curriculum and course offering schedules, with excellent results so far; for example, 4-year graduation rates increased from 37% for students entering in 2013 and 2014 to an average of 62% for students entering from 2015-2018. Our attention to these issues of efficiency continues, but over the past four years we have begun a series of new initiatives to improve the undergraduate student experience from the first quarter to graduation and to address equity gaps. These include advising initiatives to increase student engagement with faculty as mentors and research advisers; a new course to serve incoming first-year students with less experience in advanced math and physics (Physics 2,The Physicist’s Toolbox); highly popular new courses for non-majors in search of engaging general-education courses more substantial than a routine survey of conceptual physics (Physics 1A and 1B, Physics for Everyone); new electives adapted to student interest and contemporary directions in physics research and applications (Physics 137, Advanced Optics Laboratory; Physics 150, Quantum Computing; and Physics 152, Physics and Machine Learning). We have also listened to our students’ interests in creating new degree tracks: a Computational Physics concentration within the Applied Physics BS (available as of fall ‘23), a Quantum Computation concentration (approved for fall ‘24), and a recommended path within Applied Physics for pre-aerospace students.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a comprehensive private university located in Central Massachusetts that enrolls over 5100 full-time undergraduate students and 850 full-time graduate students and offers B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics and Applied Physics. The Project-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum is the cornerstone of the academic programs that integrates experiential learning through community engagement and scholarship for all physics majors. Over the past several years, faculty have leveraged the partnership with our students and the broader community through several strategic initiatives. These include the continued transformation of our introductory physics courses and laboratories to implement active learning pedagogies, the creation of a Learning Assistants program, the award of a PhysTEC Comprehensive site and Noyce Scholarship program for the Physics Teacher Preparation Program that is in partnership with our STEM Education Center, the expansion of our curriculum with a new and flexible Applied Physics major, support of highly active Society of Physics, Sigma Pi Sigma, and Women and Gender Minorities in Physics student organizations, and expansion of outreach programs with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This small undergraduate department has a tradition of outstanding outcomes for its graduates. Between 2016-2018, this department averaged 16 graduates per year, and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) ranked it in the top 7% among 503 undergraduate-only institutions. Nearly 75% of IWU physics students work with faculty members on research projects, and it offers 12 different advanced lab courses, making it exceptionally strong in this area. Approximately half of its graduates go on to pursue a PhD in science, another third do graduate work in engineering, and the remaining third enter the workforce directly, usually pursuing careers in engineering, programming, teaching, sales, or finance.

This research-driven, student-centric physics department prepares students for 21st century careers by seamlessly integrating purposeful research and education with workforce development, life-long learning, and cultural inclusion. All of its majors are given the opportunity to work in faculty research labs at UAB and in Europe, through an NSF-supported International Research Experiences for Students program. By organizing the Physics degree into five job-focused tracks supported by a Faculty Mentoring System, and with two new physics and data science and research-intensive physics accelerated BS/MS (ABM) programs, UAB helps students develop an individual program of study to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace while pursuing their passion. Track faculty mentors connect students with research while providing academic support and career guidance. This department also impacts a much broader and diverse student audience than ever before through transforming online teaching into innovative Remotely Accessible Interdisciplinary STEMM Education (RAISE), developing student social networks, and supporting Alabama high-school teachers. Since 2015, this department has witnessed an increase to historic heights of both the number of physics majors and the overall number of students taught. UAB Physics is now moving to a newly-built Science & Engineering Complex, a state-of-the art interdisciplinary building designed to empower graduates to impact the future.