Session B61: Innovation for Impact

The U.S.-Africa Initiative in Electronic Structure

The goal of the U.S.-Africa Initiative in Electronic Structure (USAfrI) was to impact research and education in Africa significantly. The inspiration was the African School for Electronic Structure Methods and Applications (ASESMA), which has built up a community of scientists in Africa who are active in research and need collaborations and interactions with the global community. Computational methods and applications of electronic structure are important fields where forefront work can be done with limited resources - from fundamental physics to applications. The USAfrI program held 3 virtual workshops, and 16 African scientists visited universities and labs in the US (chosen from over 100 US scientists who expressed interest in hosting). The goal of USAfrI now is to become self-sustainable, strengthen successful connections, and grow the network on both sides of the Atlantic. APS has a major role in the future of the USAfrI organization by standing behind potential new activities and efforts. The Division of Computational Physics (DCOMP) has served as the USAfrI base and will continue, but its function should be made evident and formalized in the future.   

Incorporating Data Science in the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum

The Data Science Education Community of Practice (DSECOP) began in fall 2021, with the goal to make data science part of the undergraduate physics curriculum. The project was designed to engage with interested physics faculty through multiple means.To lower the barrier of including data science in typical physics courses, this project works with graduate students and postdocs who are DSECOP Fellows. The Fellows create data science modules intended for undergraduate physics courses. This project additionally has organized two in-person workshops to further engage the faculty and obtain additional feedback on the modules. This presentation provides an overview of our activities, successes and challenges, and our plans for the future.   

Opportunities and Challenges of Building Physics Educators’ Capacity for Engaging in Critical ConversationsMartha-Elizabeth Baylor

The APS EDI Fellows Program developed a small cohort of fellows for the purpose of 1) increasing their awareness, 2) developing a workshop for physics educators, and 3) training the fellows to co-facilitate the workshop. During the first year of the program the curriculum development team (CDT), consisting of two physics educators and two social scientists - one with expertise in critical conversations and one with expertise in cultural competency, selected and trained the fellows to develop their self-awareness, cultural competency and capacity to engage in critical conversations in a physics classroom context. The Fellows also co-developed the workshop with the support of the CDT. During the second-year of the grant, each fellow co-facilitated the workshop with one of the social scientists to selected audiences in order to receive feedback and iteratively improve the workshop itself. We will present on the opportunities and challenges of physicists partnering with social scientists, of training the fellows (including their growth and areas of continued work around EDI), and of delivering the workshop to a variety of audiences within the physics community. Finally we will provide a summary of how these observations impact how we think about continuing this work beyond the Innovation Fund Grant.   

Bringing Quantum Information Science to Diverse Populations

The field of Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) has received a lot of attention in recent years. The anticipated impact the field will have on society is reflected in large investments from both government and industry sectors and highlights a need for a quantum capable workforce. Unfortunately, the nascent aspect of the QIST field has kept the majority of workforce development efforts confined to large research-focused institutions. The Quantum Undergraduate Education and Scientific Training (QUEST) project began as an effort to help identify and address challenges associated with bringing QIST workforce development efforts to a more diverse range of institutions, specifically predominantly undergraduate institutions. In addition to a two-day workshop focusing on these challenges, the project also included professional development in the form of faculty online learning communities to support the incorporation of QIST into the undergraduate curriculum. In this talk I will give an overview of the QUEST effort, what was learned during the project and some of the sustained efforts that have grown directly out of this effort.   

Supporting Physics Departments for Planning and Implementing Transformational Change

As part of the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) initiative, a joint effort of APS and the American Association of Physics Teachers, we have been running Departmental Action Leadership Institutes (DALIs), which support physics faculty members and their departments in implementing changes to their undergraduate programs. Starting in January 2021, two faculty members from each of five departments joined the first DALI cohort. They were charged with leading cross-constituency teams in their departments to engage in a change effort, following the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model. This DALI started with a virtual kickoff workshop followed by twice monthly meetings and the opportunity for individual consultations with the DALI facilitators. These activities were designed to to help the DALI participants engage in a change effort, support a high-functioning team, interface with external stakeholders, and develop change agency. In total, we have successfully run 4 DALI cohorts to date, with cohort 5 in process and cohort 6 planned to launch in May 2024 (given adequate funding). Taken together, these 6 cohorts included participants from 30 physics programs in the United States and Canada. In this presentation, we will describe the goals and structure of the DALIs, present our findings with respect to DALI's impacts on participants and their departments, and discuss our plans for the future of the DALI model.   

Innovation Strategies to Fund Social Change in Physics

The American Physical Society's Innovation Unit is a hub for activities built upon innovation practices, including the Innovation Fund, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation's Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative, and other partnerships, which provide opportunities for physicists to propose and execute emerging ideas to benefit the physics community, and society. During this session, you will learn how to leverage innovation strategies such as the Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition, and Lean Impact to create social change in the physics community. You will also learn about APS-sponsored grant opportunities and their potential to fund new ideas impacting physics research and physics culture.