Collaborative Research: Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics on January 15-16, 2011.

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the Sixth Annual Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, a two-day conference for undergraduate women in physics. The conference takes place January 15-16, 2011 simultaneously at the University of Southern California (USC), Purdue University, the North Carolina Research Triangle (NCRT), and MIT. The conference has two overarching goals. The first is to give undergraduate women the resources, motivation, and confidence to apply to graduate school and to successfully complete a Ph.D. in physics or a related discipline. The second is to make undergraduate women in physics more aware of the wide range of career opportunities available to them. Regional conferences are held simultaneously in order to maximize the student attendance by minimizing cross- country travel requirements, to increase the excitement of the participants in the joint venture, and to allow the interactive simulcast of a keynote address. The conference goals are achieved by providing a series of inspiring research talks by women physicists, panel discussions on graduate school and physics careers, student presentation sessions, and ample opportunity for networking and informal mentoring. The success of these goals is measured by surveys given to students before and after the conference, as well as by longitudinal studies following the students' post-graduation paths and comparing them with female student cohorts who did not attend the conference.