Wavefront Newsletter

News for Leaders in Physics Education January/February 2015

Dear Physics Educator, At APS we are going full throttle planning for our APS March and April Meetings, where we bring thousands of physicists together to learn about and share physics research, meet colleagues and collaborators, and find out about new opportunities. The APS Forum on Education is hosting a number of sessions at the APS March Meeting in San Antonio, TX, that may be of interest to you. Including: Inspirational Approaches to Teaching Physics and History of Physics Physics Education Research Course Transformation & Outreach Growing the Physics Major Enjoy, Arlene Modeste Knowles Wavefront Editor P.S. We welcome your feedback on Wavefront so that we can continue to improve it for you! In This Issue Graduate TA Workshop Future of Physics Days APS/IBM Research Internships Career Events at the APS March Meeting Featured Statistics Meeting Dates Feb. 5-8: PhysTEC Conference Seattle, WA Feb. 6: Hotel Reservation Deadline APS March Meeting Feb. 20: Early Bird Registration Deadline APS April Meeting March 2-6: APS March Meeting San Antonio, TX April 11-14: APS April Meeting Baltimore, MD For Faculty & Graduate Students Departmental Teams: Apply Now to Attend Graduate TA Workshop Nomination Deadline: February 13 National Workshop: May 27-29 Departmental teams, consisting of one mentor/master TA and one faculty member, from physics and chemistry departments can apply to attend the “Mobilizing the Forgotten Army: Preparing TAs for Leadership in STEM Education,” workshop taking place at Georgia Tech at the end of May. Departments may send more than one team, but funding is limited to one team per department. For Undergraduates APS March Meeting Highlights for Undergrads: Future of Physics Days Undergraduates navigating the APS March Meeting 2015 will find loads of programmatic activities just for them as part of the Future of Physics Days. There will be a panel discussion on career pathways, undergraduate research sessions, a graduate school fair and reception to learn about programs and meet with grad school representatives informally, and an Awards Ceremony with Club Physics dance party! We look forward to seeing you there!   APS/IBM Research Internships for Undergraduate Women and Underrepresented Minorities Deadline: February 15 APS and IBM co-sponsor two undergraduate research internship programs; one for undergraduate women and one for underrepresented minorities. The goals of the programs are to encourage women and underrepresented minority undergraduate students to pursue graduate studies in science and engineering. Both internship programs feature salaried positions at IBM research locations that are typically 10 weeks long and provide an opportunity for interns to work closely with an IBM mentor. The undergraduate women internships are at one of three IBM research locations (San Jose, CA, Austin, TX, or Yorktown Heights, NY). The research internships for underrepresented minorities are at IBM Almaden in San Jose, CA. Learn more: Women’s Internships Underrepresented Minorities Internships For All Career Events at the APS March Meeting 2015 March 2-6, 2015, San Antonio, Texas Whether you’re in the market for a job now, have a job to offer, or are thinking about your career and acquiring as much information as you can for your future position, the APS March Meeting Career events have something for you! There are career related events for physicists at all levels and even a session on entrepreneurship. Check it out » Featured Statistics Physics is at the bottom of the STEM fields chosen by African Americans and participation is declining. Credit: APS/Source: IPEDS Completion Survey by Race and US Census Bureau This graph shows the percentage of US bachelor's degrees awarded to African Americans in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, as well as the percentage of college-age Black, Non-Hispanics in the US population over the same period. This graph is freely available for your use. Credit APS, IPEDS, and the US Census Bureau as shown above.    Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by African Americans, by Major Graph    Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by African Americans, by Major Slide    Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by African Americans, by Major Data APS Headquarters: 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740 Editorial Office: 1 Research Road, Ridge, NY 11961 Washington, D.C. Office: 529 14th St NW, Ste 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045