Collaborative Research: Conference of Undergraduate Women in Physics; January 18-20, 2013

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides funding for the 8th annual Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics and for a formative assessment of the effectiveness of the conferences in meeting their goals. The next conferences will take place on January 18-20, 2013, simultaneously at Caltech, Colorado School of Mines, Cornell University, the University of Central Florida, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Texas. The conferences have two overarching goals: 1) 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; and 2) To increase awareness by undergraduate women in physics of the wide range of career opportunities available to them. Regional conferences are held simultaneously to maximize student attendance by minimizing travel, to increase the excitement of the participants in a joint national venture, and to allow the interactive simulcast of a keynote address. The conference goals are achieved by providing a series of inspiring talks by female 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 will be measured by surveys given to students before and after the conferences, as well as by longitudinal studies following the students' post-graduation paths and comparing them with female student cohorts who did not attend the conferences.