Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2023
Volume 68, Number 3
Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5-10)
Virtual (March 20-22); Time Zone: Pacific Time
Session D51: Research Mentoring in Undergraduate and Graduate ProgramsEducation Invited Undergrad Friendly
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Sponsoring Units: FED Chair: Susan Blessing, Florida State University Room: Room 321 |
Monday, March 6, 2023 3:00PM - 3:36PM |
D51.00001: A Research Experience for First-Year Undergraduates Invited Speaker: Jonathan Bougie A long-running program at Loyola University Chicago (LUC) provides one model for mentoring physics majors in undergraduate research, beginning with their first year in the department. Since 1996, the Physics Department at LUC has annually engaged students in a program known as the Freshman Project. This program aims to involve students in project-based learning and to model a semester-long research experience early in their undergraduate careers. The Freshman Project has many potential benefits for students, including helping to integrate them into the department, deepening their understanding of physics, and encouraging their interest in research. It has become an integral part of the LUC Physics Department curriculum. This program demonstrates an approach to mentoring and fostering student research that can establish a foundational experience for students during their first year in physics. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 3:36PM - 4:12PM |
D51.00002: Benefits and Logistics of Mentoring Programs for Physics Students and Faculty Invited Speaker: Kristine M Lang I have been involved in mentoring programs throughout my education and academic career. When I was a grad student, I founded and ran a student mutual mentoring group (Society of Women in the Physical Sciences at UC Berkeley). As a physics professor at a liberal arts college, I have been a research and academic mentor to many undergrad students, and am faculty advisor to a mentoring program for physics undergrads. And to support my own academic career, I participate in the eAlliance mentoring program for women physicists. From these experiences, I discuss the myriad benefits of mentoring for physicists at all stages of their education and career. I also discuss the logistics of organizing a mentoring program, such as recruiting and organizing mentoring groups, encouraging and facilitating mentor group meetings, and finding funding. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 4:12PM - 4:48PM |
D51.00003: Mentoring graduate students - advising days and other approaches Invited Speaker: Pearl Sandick The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah completed a sweeping overhaul and reform of their graduate program in 2017-2019. Among the many changes, new advising practices were adopted, including the introduction of regular, mandatory meetings of students and their committee members and a new required "professional development" course for second year graduate students. I'll discuss the evolution and implementation of these and other new practices and share some data and personal insights on how they support student success. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 4:48PM - 5:24PM |
D51.00004: Integrating First-year Research Rotations into Physics Graduate Programs Invited Speaker: Justin C Burton The vast majority of physics graduate programs in the USA rely on 1-2 years of intensive classes followed by a shift towards research. Students often begin working in a research group at the end of their 1st year, after they have passed a written and/or oral qualifying exam. This can be problematic since students are not given an opportunity to excel at the primary focus of graduate school. Since the early 2000s, the Physics Graduate Program at Emory University has used a different approach, instead relying on a system of research rotations in different groups during the first year of graduate school. The rotations serve to familiar students with faculty research and individual group management styles, and allow faculty to evaluate students prior to joining their group. These rotations are coupled to a proposal style, research based qualifying exam at the end of the second year of graduate school. During these first two years, students are also taking both core and elective classes. I will discuss the main benefits and potential drawbacks of this model, and the common pitfalls to look for during implementation. As a whole, this model leads to a two-year evaluation period for students (prior to the qualifying exam) where they are assessed on reserach, classwork, and scientific writing. In addition to high rates of student satisfaction, the rotation model is more inclusive and accomodates a diverse range of student talents and prepatory levels. |
Monday, March 6, 2023 5:24PM - 6:00PM |
D51.00005: Research Mentoring in the Scientific Community Invited Speaker: Kawana W Johnson For many, mentoring is a key part of the research experience. When students experience a positive mentoring relationship, they are exposed to the STEM culture and their identities are promoted as STEM professionals (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). In 2022, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory introduced the "MagLab Research Mentor Incubator (MRMI) Program." This program was designed to give graduate students, postdocs, and faculty the resources and structure to grow professionally and achieve their goals while effectively supporting others in doing the same. The 2019 National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine report on the Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM recommends that institutions support quality mentorship through evidenced-based approaches.By introducing the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) mentorship education curriculum, developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this incubator was designed to support mentor and mentee skill development while engaging participants in understanding their own individual needs and interests. During this session, the presenter will share insight on program development, implementation, participants, and outcomes. |
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