“Diversity in Astronomy: The Role of Summer Research Programs”

Summer research is probably one of the most effective ways to give students experiences and motivation for a career in science. In 2002, I served as the first director of the UW-Madison Astrophysics REU program, and I have been involved in this program ever since, including running the program during the one summer where we had a gap in funding. I will describe the evolution of this program, my thoughts and experiences about what works, and what we could be doing better as a community. The continuity of this program has allowed us to obtain funding from the UW-Madison’s Graduate School, individual grants, and other sources. (This additional support has allowed us to fund 45 additional students beyond the NSF supported students.) From 2002 to 2018, over fifty mentors have worked with a total of 175 students, including 92 women (53%), 49 students who are members of under-represented minorities (URM, 28%), and four students with documented disabilities. We now have fifty-one alumni who have earned their PhDs (22 in Astronomy/Space Physics, 14 in Physics, and nine in other areas), including twenty-five women and eleven URM alumni.

Please note: Should you require any reasonable accommodations to ensure equal access and opportunity related to this event please contact Nicholle Cardinal at ndcard@umich.edu.