“Future faces of physics” and other initiatives to broaden participation in science.

Abstract

Together, Hispanic‐Americans and African‐Americans make up over 25% of the US population, but they earn only 7% of physics bachelor’s degrees. In order to help broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields, the American Institute of Physics has several programs to work with students as well as to reach the general public. To engage physics undergraduates on the challenging subject of diversity, the Society of Physics Students (SPS), a society of over 4000 undergraduate physics students that is part of the American Institute of Physics (AIP), has launched two new programs. SPS has developed a Physics Jeopardy‐like game as part of a “Future Faces of Physics” kit that includes various materials that help engage students in conversations about diversity. These kits have been used at more than 20 regional and national meetings since 2008 with positive results. AIP has also worked with Research Corporation to launch a program that brings Nobel laureates to HBCU’s and to SPS campus or regional events that include participation by Minority Serving Institutions. Another AIP program creates short TV science news segments and distributes them free of charge in Spanish. These programs and future directions will be summarized.