Diversity Corner

APS Bridge Program Request for Proposals
Information on the 2014 APS Bridge Program (APS-BP) Request for Proposals (RFP) for new Bridge Sites is now available at the RFP 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 3, 2014. In the 2013-2014 RFP solicitation, we received and reviewed ten initial proposals, and of these, seven advanced to the full proposal submission process. Two of these, California State University, Long Beach and Florida State University, were selected to become Bridge Sites.

A webinar on the APS Bridge Program RFP will be held on September 5 at 12:00 pm ET. Information on registering for the webinar is available at the URL in the first paragraph above.

Update Your Department’s Female-Friendly Graduate Program Survey
The Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) has facilitated the collection of responses to a series of questions about graduate programs in physics that should be helpful to those interested in assessing the climate for women at various graduate schools. You can find department responses to a short series of questions at the Assessing Graduate Programs page.

All responses are self-reported by department chairs (or their assignees). To update your responses, please contact women@aps.org.

How does your institution compare nationally?
APS created an institution comparison site to allow US institutions to see how they compare nationally in terms of producing physics degrees and encouraging diversity among these degrees.

Professional Skills Development Workshop at the DFD Meeting
APS, with support from the National Science Foundation, will host a Professional Skills Development Workshop for Women Physicists at the Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting in San Francisco, CA, on November 22, 2014. Email women@aps.org for details on workshop registration. For more information on the workshop, please visit our Professional Skills Development page.

Climate Site Visits
The APS has had a long-standing interest in improving the climate in physics departments for women and underrepresented minorities. CSWP and the Committee on Minorities both sponsor site visit programs.

For more information on the Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program, visit our Site Visits web page.

For more information on the Climate for Minorities in Physics Site Visit Program, visit the Minorities in Physics Site Visits page.

Save the Date for 2015 PhysTEC Conference: Travel Grants Available for MSI Faculty
The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) Conference is the nation’s largest meeting dedicated to physics teacher education. The 2015 PhysTEC Conference will be held February 5-7, 2015 at the Marriott Seattle Waterfront in Seattle, WA. The conference will focus on Thriving Programs and will feature a pre-conference Learning Assistant Workshop on February 5, a post-conference workshop on Building Thriving Programs on February 7-8, and a joint poster session on February 6. Faculty from minority-serving institutions are eligible to apply for travel grants. More information can be found at the PhysTEC Conference 2015 page.

Women and Minority Speakers Lists
APS offers lists of women, minority and physics education research speakers who are available to give talks in departments or to general audiences. If you are looking for a diverse speaker for your colloquium series, we invite you to use our speakers lists at www.aps.org/programs/speakers/. There are also travel grants available to bring minority speakers to physics departments to give talks; for information, visit the Travel Grants for Minority Speakers page.

Women and minority physicists can sign up to give talks, or modify their existing listing, at the Speakers Program Enrollment web page.