APS Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Fellows Program

Despite the growing number of curricula, seminars, and workshops providing resources for physics educators to address EDI in their classrooms, many physics educators are hesitant to engage in critical conversations, due to lack of facilitation skills, fear of burdening minoritized students, and/or fear of causing harm due to lack of expertise. The APS EDI Fellows Program seeks to address the gap between available EDI resources and physicists' lack of expertise in critical conversations by training a cohort of physicists and pairing them with critical conversation specialists to present interactive workshops that address fear and build capacity for physicists to engage in EDI conversations. Addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in physics is a prominent goal of the APS Strategic Plan.

What the Fellows Will Be Doing During the Grant Duration

We will select six EDI Fellows to be trained in how to foster EDI discussions in the classroom. The EDI Fellows, in partnership with the Curriculum Development Team (CDT), will develop and facilitate subsequent workshops for physics educators interested in building capacity to do EDI work in their classrooms.

During the second year, each Fellow, in partnership with one of the critical conversation specialists, will lead one iteration of the EDI Workshop with volunteer groups that have a vested interest in the success of the EDI Fellows program and the EDI Workshop. This work will be compensated with a modest stipend of $5000 and travel expenses over the 2-year grant.

Responsibilities of EDI Fellows

The following are the responsibilities of the Fellows through the end of the grant program (Fall 2023):

  • Attend an in-person orientation and training (COVID- permitting) from 5pm February 11th through 5pm February 12th, 2022.
  • Attend virtual monthly meetings and complete associated preparation for those meetings through the end of the grant period (Fall 2023).
  • Attend a 1.5-day in-person meeting in September 2022 with the CDT prior to leading one workshop to occur sometime Fall of 2022 through Fall 2023.
  • Present one workshop to a vested volunteer group in partnership with one of the critical conversation specialists.
  • Participate in periodic assessments to provide formative feedback to the APS EDI Fellows Program leadership.
  • Participate in an IRB-approved research project to study, conducted by an external evaluator, on the impact of the Fellows training program on their capacity for holding critical conversations in the physics classroom. All data and research findings will be de-identified by the external evaluator before presentation to the leadership group, publications, or national meetings.

This project is funded by the APS Innovation Fund.

Interested in Receiving Progress Updates?

At the end of this grant in 2023, we intend to seek funding to train more fellows. If you are interested in being notified about the progress of this program including announcements for future Fellows, please sign-up here for updates.