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APS Bridge Program
Enhancing Diversity in Physics Graduate Education
APS Bridge Program
APS-BP Brochure 
APS-BP Board and Staff
APS-BP Resources
Contact APS-BP
APS Bridge Meetings
APS Bridge Program Workshop
Background and Agenda
Workshop Presentations
Engaged Institutions
Minority Serving Institutions
• Cal State Long Beach
• Chicago State University
• Dillard University
• Morehouse College
• Southern University
• Spelman College
• Texas State University
• Univ of Puerto Rico-Humacao
• Univ of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez
• Univ of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras
• University of Texas-El Paso
• Xavier University of Louisiana
Doctoral Granting Institutions
• Florida A&M University*
• Florida International University*
• Columbia University
• Harvard University
• MIT
• New Mexico State University*
• Stanford University
• University of Arizona*
• Univ of California, Berkeley
• University of Colorado
• University of Maryland
• University of Michigan
• University of Texas-Austin
• University of Texas-San Antonio*
* Also Minority Serving Institutions
Foundations & Societies
• Florida Education Fund
• National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP)
• National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP)
• Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
Program Goal
The goal of the APS Bridge Program (APS-BP) is to bring the fraction of physics PhDs granted to underrepresented minorities (African American, Native American and Hispanic American) into parity with the fraction of undergraduates (an increase of about 30 per year) within the next ten years. This will be accomplished by establishing a set of bridge programs that facilitate the transition to graduate school.
Motivation- Physics as a community ranks at the bottom of science disciplines in educating the growing US minority population.
- Underrepresented minorities (URMs) now make up about a third of the college-age US citizens, yet we graduate less than 10% of our bachelor physics degrees to all of these groups combined. The situation at the doctoral level is even bleaker with only about 5 to 6% of PhDs granted to URMs.
- Currently, only about 30-35 PhDs in physics are granted to URMs every year nationwide (US citizens or permanent residents). These small numbers allow a program of this type to have a significant and measurable impact on this issue in the United States.
- Improvements that will facilitate this increase will benefit all students with better attention to student development.
Minority Physics StatisticsAPS Resolution
June 2010, the APS Executive Board passed the following resolution:
The American Physical Society recognizes the significant disparity in participation by under-represented minorities in physics at all levels, and commits to support the Minority Bridge Program that will establish a set of programs and related efforts to help under-represented minority undergraduates transition to doctoral degree-granting programs and obtain PhD degrees in physics.Related APS Statement
Human Rights: Joint Diversity Statement
Contact APS-BP
| Peter Muhoro APS-BP Manager American Physical Society One Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740 Phone: (301) 209-3245 muhoro@aps.org |
Ted Hodapp Director of Education and Diversity American Physical Society One Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740 Phone: (301) 209-3263 hodapp@aps.org |
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0958333. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
