Transcript APS/AAPT Graduate Education in Physics Conference, ACP, College Park, MD, Jan.

APS/AAPT Graduate Education in Physics Conference, ACP, College Park, MD, Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, 2013
Promoting Diversity in Physics – Personal
Observations
Dr. Anthony M. Johnson, Director*
Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR)
Professor of Physics
Professor of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)
2002 President of the Optical Society of America (OSA)
Editor-in-Chief, Optics Letters (95-01)
NSF ERC MIRTHE Deputy Director
APS Executive Board (13-14)
[email protected]
* Before January 1, 1995
Distinguished Member of Technical Staff
Photonic Circuits Research Department, AT&T Bell Laboratories (now Alcatel-Lucent)
1995-2003 Chair, Physics Dept., New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
NSF ERC (Engineering Research Center) Plenary on Improving Diversity
Rick Ainsworth, Henry Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Science, UCLA
ERC Annual Meeting, November 14-16, 2012
Bell Labs Cooperative Research Fellowship Program (CRFP)
for Minorities
•The CRFP, founded in 1972 was one of the first programs of its kind in the US
to address the issue of under-representation of minorities at the PhD level in
the fields of mathematics, science and engineering
•The Graduate Research Program for Women (GRPW) was founded in 1974 -a companion program to CRFP to address the shortage of women scientists at
Bell Labs
•To create a pool of undergraduate students eligible to enter the graduate
CRFP and GRPW programs, the Bell Labs Summer Research Program for
Minorities and Women (SRP) was established in 1974 – this 10-week summer
program was for outstanding underrepresented minorities and women who
have completed their Jr. year of undergraduate studies. The purpose of SRP
was to provide a preview of the lifestyle of an R&D career to impact decisions to
earn graduate degrees
Dr. Alice White, Chief Scientist, Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent --1976 GRPW Fellow
•The summers after her sophomore, junior and senior years of college, Dr. White
participated in the Bell Labs Summer Research Program for Minorities and Women
(SRP) which began in 1974
• Dr. White was awarded a 1976 Bell Labs GRPW Fellowship to pursue a PhD in
Physics at Harvard University with Bell Labs Mentor, Dr. Doug Osheroff who went on to
win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996
1974 Bell Labs Summer Research Program, Murray Hill, NJ
David H. Auston – Lasers and Picosecond Optoelectronics – Past President, Kavli Institute -- UCSB
Robert Dynes – Low Temperature Physics and Superconductivity – Past President of UC -- UCSD
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol. QE-11, pp. 283-287, June 1975
Summer Research Program (SRP) For Minorities & Women (Est. 1974)
• Undergraduates who have completed 3 years of education in mathematics, science or
engineering -- provisions include:
• Summer employment – stipend
• Housing arrangements – Rutgers University
• Transportation
• Individual research project with a Bell Labs scientist as mentor
• In the early days approx. 60 slots were available across disciplines
Cooperative Research Fellowship Program (CRFP) For Minorities (Est. 1972)
Graduate Research Program for Women (GRPW) (Est. 1974)
• About 10 students enter each year and spend 5.5-6 years earning the PhD
• The program pays each Fellow’s education expenses, including tuition, fees and books,
conference attendance, summer employment and an annual stipend
• A mentor is assigned to each Fellow, with the objective of ensuring that Fellows have a
substantive relationship with an experienced scientist in a related discipline, a professional who can
provide guidance, nurturing, inspiration and advocacy during the doctoral training, and often beyond
AT&T Bell Labs CRFP
•“AT&T … can claim that 22% of all the minorities who have earned PhDs in Electrical
Engineering in the past 20 years have been part of a program the company has
sponsored. AT&T has helped 67 students earn PhDs by paying their graduate tuition,
giving them an annual stipend and summer employment, and setting them up with a
mentor.” Science, vol. 258 (13) November 1992, page 1196.
•Bell Labs established and maintained a strong program that added significantly to the
pool of underrepresented minorities in the nation’s scientific and engineering workforce.
Nationwide, in 1981, four PhDs were awarded to African-Americans in Physics, two of
four were CRFP Fellows – I was one of them. By 1991, 10% of the PhD awards to
underrepresented minorities in engineering went to CRFP Fellows.
•The CRFP Program has produced well over 100 underrepresented minority
PhDs over its lifetime.
APS/IBM Research Internship for Undergraduate Women
APS and IBM co-sponsor a 10-weeks long research internship program for
undergraduate women. The goal is to encourage women students to pursue graduate
studies in science and engineering.
"I have been having a fantastic summer, and am
sorry to see it coming to an end. Time flies! My
project was extremely interesting. I ended up
working on an advanced process development
for the patterning and metallization of
photovoltaic cell grids. I was able to optimize the
process, but there are still a few lingering issues.
I made some suggestions which I think will lead
to better results."
Alysha Thomas
University of Notre Dame and 2012
APS/IBM intern working at IBM Watson
1981 NSBP Annual Meeting, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL
May 1, 1981, Conf. Chair – Herman White, Jr.
1981 NSBP Annual Meeting, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL
1989 NSBP Annual Mtg.
April 6-7, 1989
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Holmdel, NJ
Conference Co-Chairs:
Anthony Johnson
Shirley Jackson
George Campbell, Jr.
Introductory Remarks:
William F. Brinkman
Charles V. Shank
Number of physics PhDs earned over the
last 30 years
Men
Women
Total
African
American
Hispanic
American
246
42
288
427
62
489
Native
American
40
4
44
13
Total Physics PhDs over the last 30 years ~ 37,000
Rachel Ivie, AIP
Statistical Research Center
September 21, 2011
14
Rachel Ivie, AIP
Statistical Research Center
September 21, 2011
15
Table 2. Number of Women Faculty in US Physics and Astronomy Departments, 2008
Highest Degree Granted by
Department
PhD Masters Bachelors
African American or Black
Asian or Asian American
Hispanic or Latina
White
Total
Source: AIP Academic Workforce Survey
Total
% of All
Women
14
3
12
29
3
106
14
56
176
16
19
7
12
38
3
465
64
340
869
78
1112
100
Rachel Ivie, AIP
Statistical Research Center
September 21, 2011
2008 AIP Survey of Physics & Astronomy DegreeGranting Departments (Rachel Ivie)
•189 PhD Granting Physics Departments
•5200 Full-Time Equivalent Physics Faculty
•38 (2000), 64 (2004), 66 (2008) African-American Faculty
•81 (2000), 107 (2004), 130 (2008) Hispanic Faculty
•The number of Native American faculty members is too small to
count
•87 (46%) of these PhD Granting Physics Departments have
neither African-American nor Hispanic faculty
“I think it’s critical that the stereotype
that minorities can’t do physics be
challenged.”
-- Anthony M. Johnson, Chair
APS Committee on Minorities in Physics
AT&T Bell Laboratories
APS News, Vol. 1, No. 9, pp 12-15, September 1992
Provocative Quotes on Diversity
“A colleague once said to me that given a choice between a graduate applicant
from a historically black institution and an applicant from China with exactly the
same credentials, he would choose the Chinese student every time.” – George
Jones, Minorities in the Scientific Workforce, Science, vol. 296, 12 April 2002.
“The time to deal with women as a special professional group has passed. I do
not know if minorities require any special consideration, but probably not. The
scientific community seems to embrace all individuals quite fairly as far as I can
tell.” – quote from a scientist responding to a recent survey (2005), Roman
Czujko, Director, AIP Statistical Research Center.
“I see no reason for a committee on women in physics. There are only two
women in physics and I know both and they are very happy.” – CSWP Gazette,
October 1992.
More Provocative Quotes on Diversity
“The fundamental problem, the panel notes, is not attracting women into
science but retaining them once they are trained….It is not the lack of talent but
unintentional biases and our outmoded institutional structures that are hindering
the access and the advancement of women….Women from minority racial and
ethnic backgrounds are virtually absent from the nation’s leading science and
engineering departments…” – National Academies report on the status of
women in academic science and engineering – Science, vol. 313, 22
September 2006.
“As a white male, I will never know what it’s like to be an underrepresented
minority.” He also noted that a lot of people are simply not interested in
diversity. “They are not necessarily openly hostile, but they are not interested in
doing anything either.” – Physics Dept. Chairs Conference, June 2012
An example of the changing demographics …
AAPT/APS Physics Department Chairs Conference, June 8-12, 2012, ACP
Panel on “Developing an Inclusive Diversity Climate”
“Laird Kramer gave an overview of Florida International University,
a Hispanic-serving research university in Miami ranked number
one in the nation in awarding bachelor’s and master’s degrees to
Hispanic students. He presented workshop participants with the
following scenario: today, one in three new entrants to the
workforce are Hispanic or Latino; this number is expected to rise
to one in two entrants by 2025. Kramer described the situation as
a unique challenge or opportunity, and a reason to make sure that
educational practices support all learners. He emphasized that a
diverse workforce equates to larger recruitment and experience
pools.” – CSWP & COM Gazette, Fall 2012
Observations and Lessons Learned
Though initially I was skeptical of the concept of a “role model”, when I left AT&T
Bell Labs to join NJIT as Physics Dept. Chair, I discovered that I attracted underrepresented minorities to my research group in a department that had no such
students before my arrival. My second PhD student, Dr. Elaine Lalanne was the
only African-American woman to receive a PhD in Physics in 2003. I now believe
that this concept of a “role model” works for both foreign and domestic students and
of course women. It is therefore imperative to increase the number of underrepresented minority and women faculty to have an impact upon the diversity of
S&E graduate students
The NSF ERCs (Engineering Research Centers) provide a focus across academic
departments and schools which fosters cooperation amongst foreign and domestic
students. My group is largely Black and Hispanic and Prof. Fow-Sen Choa’s group
is largely Chinese. MIRTHE has brought our two research groups together to work
on Quantum Cascade Lasers – a collaboration between under-represented
minorities and foreign students that may not have occurred naturally without the
MIRTHE ERC.
“Cultivating a field of dreams among a minority at NJIT”
by Caroline Brewer, Sunday Bergen Record
April 30, 2000, Living Section, page L-3
Former graduate students now Physics PhDs – Drs. Hernando Garcia, Elaine Lalanne
and Ferdinand Oguama
Observations and Lessons Learned (Continued)
Due to a typically “sub-critical mass” of under-represented minority and women
students, a supportive and nurturing environment is usually very important for
retention. I have found that under-represented minority and women students
gravitate towards research groups led by under-represented minorities and
women. I am very fortunate to have a nearly 100% retention rate in my
research group.
In the case of foreign students there is typically a “critical mass” of students
who will create a supportive environment whether or not the advisor or
department provides one. One rarely hears about issues of retention in the
case of foreign students. However, there appears to be a correlation between
foreign students and foreign faculty.
I have found that within an academic department, many students would
“segregate” themselves along racial, ethnic and foreign status lines – unless the
department made a concerted effort to provide a forum for interaction.
Robinson Kuis, Undergraduate Ronald E. McNair Scholar at NJIT – undergraduate research in
modelocked lasers and nonlinear optics
Rob joined my group to pursue a PhD in Applied Physics at NJIT
Rob moved to UMBC to help build the CASPR Ultrafast Optics & Optoelectronics Lab
Rob completed his PhD in Applied Physics at UMBC December 2009 – MIRTHE supported
Currently Program Manager/Mid-IR fiber products at IRFlex
Rob is 1 of the typical 10-15 Latino-Americans in the US receiving a PhD in Physics in 2009
Science, 12 February 2010, Vol 327
“I wish there was a Promise when I was in graduate school,” says Dr. Elaine Lalanne,
a research scientist at UMBC’s Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research
and the first African American woman to obtain a PhD in physics from the New Jersey
Institute of Technology. Lalanne’s advice to minority students facing challenges in
completing their PhD: “Don’t isolate yourself. Seek out support mechanisms, like
Promise. Go to conferences. Seek help even on the Internet. There is light at the end
of the tunnel.”
Victor Torres –
CSEE PhD student
– full-time NASA
Goddard employee
Non-collinear
background free
autocorrelation of a
7ps frequency
doubled SESAM
modelocked
Nd:Vanadate laser
Dr. Willie Rockward, Chair, Physics Dept., Morehouse College
SPIN-UP Southern Regional Workshop at North Carolina State Univ., Sept. 2009
Tips, Tools, and Techniques
● Understand the psycho-social positions of underrepresented students
The National Society of Black Physicists supported a study of 100+
African American and Hispanic American physics students.
Finding #1 The proving process: Does it ever end?
Students often reported feeling like they had to prove themselves in the
classroom no matter how long they persisted in physics. Each semester
they had to start over with a new professor, or even the same professor
(but in a different class) proving that they could handle the work. They
also expressed frustration with having to prove to people that they
deserved to be admitted into top programs; and if they attended lesser
known schools that they were just as capable as other students in more
competitive programs. This same sentiment was expressed by some of
the graduate students especially those who completed their
undergraduate degrees at HBCUs. Many of these students shared
examples of how their enrollment in graduate level physics programs at
PWIs was questioned because of their previous institutional affiliation.
This is psychologically exhausting.
Lessons from High Achieving Minorities in Physics
Fries-Britt, Younger & Hall, (2008)
Dr. Willie Rockward, Chair, Physics Dept., Morehouse College
SPIN-UP Southern Regional Workshop at North Carolina State Univ., Sept. 2009
Tips, Tools, and Techniques
● Realize what faculty say, and convey, matters
Finding # 2. What faculty said to students and how they conveyed
confidence, or lack of confidence, in students’ abilities matter.
Participants talked about the “tone” that faculty used to speak with
them and how their body language communicated an openness to
work with them. These interactions were perceived by students as
conveying directly or indirectly what a professor thought of their
work and ability to do science. In some instances, students’
perceptions were that these interactions had to do with their race.
Students gave vivid examples of how professors were positive and
negative in what they communicated. A fairly common experience
was professors who tried to discourage them from science by either
blatantly recommending that they find another major or by shutting
them down in the classroom.
Lessons from High Achieving Minorities in Physics
Fries-Britt, Younger & Hall, (2008)
Dr. Willie Rockward, Chair, Physics Dept., Morehouse College
SPIN-UP Southern Regional Workshop at North Carolina State Univ., Sept. 2009
The National Problem & Local Challenges
Physics stands out among the sciences for its inability to attract
enough women or minorities that their representation in physics will,
in the foreseeable future, be commensurate with their proportions in
the general population.
Dr. Shirley Malcom, Director of Education and Human Resources Programs
American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC.
- Physics Today and AIP 75th Anniversary Meeting, July 2006
SPIN-UP – Strategic Programs for Innovations in Undergraduate Physics
How many Black Physicists are there ?
This is a group picture of the joint meeting of the National Society of
Black Physicists and the National Conference of Black Physics Students
held at Stanford University March 28 through April 1, 2001
409 students and professional Physicists attended the meeting
Lawrence Norris/ Keith Jackson
National Society of Black Physicists
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Congressional Briefing on Diversity in Academia
2011 Joint Annual Conference of NSBP & NSHP, September 21-24, Austin, TX
NSBP/NSHP 2011, Austin, TX; OSA/SPIE Poster Awards ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, and 2011
Working Hard Together on an NSF Proposal
Prof. Karl Unterrainer, Vienna University of Technology, April 2007
Dr. Elaine Lalanne, Research Associate, CASPR, NSF MIRTHE, UMBC
Prof. Karl Unterrainer’s Research Group, Photonics Institute, Vienna University of
Technology, April 2007 – Dinner for Guest, Dr. Elaine Lalanne
Initiatives Serving Underrepresented
Communities in Optics and Photonics
New “Reflections in Diversity” Column in OPN Magazine
Optics &
Photonics News
March 2012
Optics & Photonics News, March 2012 – Reflections in Diversity Column
‘Minority Women Scientists: At the Culture-Gender Crossroads’
“… I learned about a unique cultural issue among Hispanic women when I chaired the
APS Committee on Minorities in Physics. As part of the APS Site Visit Program, we
visited the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) in 1992. At the time, UTEP had a
Hispanic population of nearly 60%, giving it the potential to graduate the largest number
of Spanish-speaking PhDs in physics in the US.
“However, during the student discussion sessions, I noticed that elder Hispanic family
members, and sometimes husbands or brothers, were inherently suspicious of the
academic curriculum, which required students to work beyond standard daylight hours.
Apparently it was considered shameful for young women to be out after hours.
“It did not matter that these fledgling scientists were involved in their requisite academic
activities – i.e., using libraries, laboratories and research facilities. These culture-specific
misgivings were so pervasive that many female students could not pursue science
careers, even though I recommended an orientation program for the families. I had
hoped to help eliminate any misunderstandings that could erode support for these young
women. Unfortunately, the disapproving attitudes nevertheless affected these young
women, dissuading them from choosing a science curriculum.” – Anthony M. Johnson
The Ultrafast Optics and Optoelectronics Group
Newly Minted PhDs in Physics (Feb. 2010) UMBC, CASPR:
Dr. Robinson Kuis and Dr. Raymond Edziah
New PhDs in Physics (2011) – Dr. Sheng Liu and Dr. Aboubakar Traore
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Statistical Research Center
September 21, 2011
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Statistical Research Center
September 21, 2011
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Statistical Research Center
September 21, 2011