Professional Skills Development for Women in Physics

American Physical Society, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

Various studies have shown that women scientists are not reaching the top ranks in the proportion that they should. The chemistry community has found that one-day workshops that emphasize negotiation and leadership skills are very useful in helping women advance their careers. The American Physical Society proposes to hold a series of workshops for women in physics that are closely based on those that have been successful for women chemists, both in content and in format. The first-year workshops will be aimed at tenured women faculty because they are the leaders who serve as role models for junior faculty members. The second-year workshops will be for non-tenured faculty members. Finally in the third year, workshops for senior women in industry and the national labs are planned. The workshops will both provide skills and also allow networking. Each workshop will have 30 participants divided into two groups. At the end of the day, we will have a final session with all 30 to discuss how they can follow up on what they have learned. APS will work with the groups to arrange further activities as suggested. APS will also do an online survey of all participants of each workshop to learn what worked well and what can be improved. Ideas for improvements will be worked into subsequent workshops.