Wednesday, November 9, 2011
APS Minority Bridge Program: Preparing Minority Students for Graduate School in Physics
Peter Muhoro, Project Manager for the Minority Bridge Program of the American Physical Society, will be visiting our Department on November 15th. He will give a colloquium on the APS Minority Bridge Program: Preparing Minority Students for Graduate School in Physics.
While physics grants a mere 9-10% of its bachelor degrees to underrepresented minorities, it does even worse for advanced degrees, with only 5-6% eventually earning a PhD. The talent is present, but forces conspire to divert students from this path, consequently losing both capable scientists, and potential mentors for future generations. Several programs have bucked this trend and increased the number of underrepresented students who are now receiving doctoral degrees in physics. This talk will describe the American Physical Society’s Minority Bridge Program, an expansion of these successful efforts to create a network of institutions that will help undergraduates successfully navigate the transition to doctoral studies. I will describe the program’s critical features, innovative ideas, and program elements that can help address the barriers that currently keep promising students from pursuing advanced study in physics.
Read the story on zing!
Join us for Peter’s talk at 4:00 P.M., Lewis Hall Auditorium, Tuesday November 15th, 2011.