Diversity Action Fund

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Through the 2020-21 Diversity Action Fund, AIP is supporting efforts to develop or enhance programs and activities aimed at improving Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) within the stakeholder communities of our Member Societies and the National Society of Black Physicists, an AIP Affiliated Society. Grants totaling $200,000 will support:

New Programs
 

The American Astronomical Society, through their Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy will initiate a program aimed at reducing the effects of financial scarcity on black, indigenous, and other marginalized students by offering microgrants  to help with graduate school application fees, virtual conference registration, or research materials such as textbooks.
The American Association of Physics Teachers will hold a virtual a Three-Part Workshop on Equity and Inclusive Physics Instruction to bring together experts in DEIB and physics educators to focus on DEIB and physics curriculum, instruction, or grant-funded education projects.
The Acoustical Society of America will support the launch of The Summer Undergraduate Research or Internship Experience in Acoustics (SURIEA) 2021. This program is a new a 12-week paid summer undergraduate experience in acoustics for underrepresented students of color (Black/African American, Native American, Alaska Native, Hispanic or Latino/a) who are interested in the area of acoustics.

 

Existing programs, where demand exceeds resources:
 

The American Physical Society will augment their APS Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Alliance (APS-IDEA) program, an initiative aimed at transforming the culture of physics by supporting students, staff, and faculty in physics departments and laboratories to advance DEIB in their places of work and study.
American Association of Physicists in Medicine logo The American Association of Physicists in Medicine will augment its Diversity Recruitment through Education and Mentoring (DREAM) Program, designed to increase the number of underrepresented groups in medical physics by creating new opportunities, outreach and mentoring geared toward diversity recruitment of undergraduate students in the field of medical physics.

Training for Staff and Volunteers
 

American Crystallographic Society logo The American Crystallographic Association will investigate obstacles to diversity within the organization and provide leadership with training in recognizing and overcoming challenges to underrepresented scientists.
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) will provide implicit bias training for staff and key volunteers, to help AMS better understand and minimize the role of unconscious bias throughout the entire organization and be in a position to effectively make changes to the way AMS engages in the entire weather, water and climate community, and society as a whole.
AVS: Science & Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing will conduct DEIB training for its Board of Directors and key leaders of the AVS International Symposium planning committee, to help raise awareness, provide skills, and cultivate a culture of inclusivity.

Partners

This fund will also support a 10-year partnership with AIP and the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), establishing the AIP-NSBP Joseph A. Johnson Award for Excellence. See the press release, naming the inaugural recipient.

Professor Joseph A. Johnson III of Florida A&M University was a pioneering and renowned experimental physicist, mentor to many black Ph.D. students and a founder of the National Society of Black Physicists. In honor of his iconic legacy, AIP and NSBP have partnered to recognize an NSBP experimental physicist who exemplifies Dr. Johnson’s ingenuity as a scientist and passion for mentorship and service. This honor comes with a $5000 award along with an invitation to give physics department colloquia at partner Universities.

The inaugural recipient was named in Fall 2020: Dr. Thomas Searles of Howard University “for his leadership in growing the participation levels of rising HBCU scholars in cutting-edge quantum research and for establishing a new experimental research program in asymmetric metamaterials at the juxtaposition of physics and materials science.”