Session D07: Confronting Challenges of Graduate Education for Marginalized Students

Presenting Stories, Sharing Possibilities, Making Spaces: Black women in physics need their space.

In this presentation, Felicia Mensah will share findings from research conducted with gathering stories from professional Black women physicists as they reflect on their undergraduate and graduate experiences. From their stories, Mensah will share how to make physics spaces more inclusive for women and other students of color.   

Finding Community to Survive and Thrive as a Queer Trans Physicist

 In 2014 the Executive Officer of the American Physical Society (APS), Kate Kirby, created an Ad-Hoc Committee on LGBT Issues (C-LGBT) charged with reporting on the obstacles to inclusion of LGBT physicists. These obstacles will be discussed alongside more recent work done by other groups that highlight the continued existence of these obstacles, from the presenter's perspective as a queer trans physicist who as a grad student was able to find and create community that has enabled her to survive and thrive as a physicist.   

Centering women of color in STEM: Where women from historically excluded groups do (and don't) complete physics degrees in the US and UK

Sneak peek at data we will release publicly in 2022: the physics graduation rates of women from historically excluded groups, at all US and UK institutions. US data includes institutions that are above average, average or below average for all women; all women of color; and Black, Indigenous and Latinx women. Users can also construct custom comparison groups. UK data classifies institutions by representation of Black and minority ethnic women among the student body and faculty, rate at which Black and minority ethnic women are hired upon graduating, and Athena Swan standing. This portal will allow physics departments to track their performance; will provide vital information to women who are considering joining particular institutions; and will allow researchers to identify trends among better-performing institutions. We anticipate intense interest in the portal as soon as it is made public; this is your chance to get a preview.   

Understanding the challenges experienced by women and racially marginalized students in physics graduate programs

High attrition and lack gender and racial diversity are two major issues faced in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate education. Students with historically marginalized identities in STEM fields have higher attrition rates than students with dominant identities. Many systematic efforts have been initiated to  help increase social representation in STEM fields. For example, the American Physical Society (APS) created the Bridge Program by placing racially marginalized students into selected physics graduate programs. In my study, I approach student attrition through  the lens of the departmental environment. In particular, my goal is to understand how students' experiences in their programs (e.g., mentoring, social and academic support) influence persistence. In this talk, I will present interview data results of 6 women and Bridge students across four institutions who describe key aspects of their graduate program that were influential for their success. I find that social and academic support are the most important aspects that influence student academic progress and, in  turn, their persistence. In particular, Bridge men students report experiencing a strong social and academic support system that is intentionally built into their program. However, non-Bridge women report a lack of social and academic support exacerbated by  actionable instances of sexism. I conclude my talk by discussing implications for research and practice.