“The Time is Now: Systemic Changes to Increase African Americans with Bachelor’s Degrees in Physics

AIP provides the means for its Member Societies to pool, coordinate, and leverage their diverse expertise and contributions in the pursuit of the shared goal of advancing the physical sciences in the research enterprise, in the economy, in education, and in society. [...] Malcom is a Fellow of AAAS and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on the boards of the Heinz Endowments, Public Agenda, NMSI and Digital Promise. [...] The goal of this report is to motivate the key stakeholders within and outside the physics and astronomy communities to work together to systematically increase the number of African American students earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy, and to inform and guide them in this effort. [...] The briefest summary of the TEAM-UP report is this: the persistent underrepresentation of African Americans in physics and astronomy is due to (1) the lack of a supportive environment for these students in many departments, and (2) to the enormous financial challenges facing them and the programs that have consistently demonstrated the best practices in supporting their success. [...] TEAM-UP was charged to investigate the persistent underrepresentation of African Americans in physics and astronomy at the bachelor’s level and produce a report to AIP Member Societies, US physics and astronomy departments, and other key stakeholders with evidence-based recommendations for increasing the percentage of African American bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy.