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SWIP 2016 Year-In-Review

2016 was an eventful year for UMich SWIP. Here are some highlights:

Slauson Middle School Demo Day

On March 11th, SWIP hosted our yearly Demo Day where SWIP and Optics Society volunteers presented physics demonstations to students at Slauson Middle School. 

Graduation

In 2016, many of our SWIP members and E-board members graduated, including former president Jenna Walrath, former E-board members Ryan Levy,  Arielle Maxner, and Isaac Money, and SWIP members Julia Pakela (who we’ve welcomed back as a graduate member!) Jessie Micallef and Hanna Schamis. Congratulations!

From left: Ryan Levy, Jenna Walrath, Julia Pakela, Jessica Micallef, Hanna Shamis, Arielle Maxner and Isaac Mooney.  

Summer Outreach

On May 27th, SWIP volunteers did a Library Demo Day at Summerfield-Petersburg Branch Library in Petersburg, MI for K-6th grade students from Summerfield Schools.

On June 27th, SWIP did a Demo Day for Summers-Knoll Summer Camp. This was our second year doing demos for Summers-Knoll!

FEMMES Fall Capstone

On November 12th, SWIP participated in FEMMES (Females Excelling More in Math, Engineering and the Sciences) Fall Capstone event. 

SWIP members Chelsea Hendrus and Stephanie Hamilton demonstrate the Meisner effect with a levitating superconductor demo. 

Spectrum Center LGBTQ Ally Development Workshop

In February and December, SWIP and the Spectrum Center offered Ally Development Workshops to the Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy departments.

SWIP Vice President Jessica Muir gave a short presentation before the Spectrum Center Ally Development Workshop on February 12th, 2016.

UMich Spectrum Center

Resource Handout from the December workshop

SWIP History Project

SWIP History Chair Julia Bourg presented on the SWIP History Project for the Physics Graduate Student Symposium (PGSS) on July 13th and again later for the UM Physics Department’s State of the Department Address on September 7th!

SWIP History Chair Julia Bourg presenting on “Early Alumnae of Michigan Physics” at PGSS on July 13th, 2016. 

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2016 Willie Hobbs Moore Award

We’d like to congratulate two of our members who were recognized during this year’s Willie Hobbs Moore Luncheon, Dr. Jenna Walrath and Ms. Christian Greenhill.

Jenna was awarded the Aspire, Advance, Achieve Mentoring Award for her mentorship within and beyond SWIP, and Christian was awarded the Trailblazer Award for her work as an executive board member of the Society of Minority Engineers and Scientists (SMES-G).

This annual event is organized to honor Dr. Willie Hobbs Moore, who became the first African-American woman to earn a BS in Electrical Engineering and MS in Electrical Engineering at Michigan and the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in Physics at any institution. 

Congratulations Jenna and Chris!

From left to right:

Top: Meryl Spencer and Christian Greenhill

Bottom: Jenna Walrath, Veronica Policht, Jessie Muir, and Julia Bourg

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This post is a month overdue, but SWIP celebrated Galentine’s Day with friends & waffles! We made crowns with our favorite Parks & Rec quotes and watched our favorite episodes.

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This is very cool and a pretty big deal. Find out why.

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On Tuesday, September 15th, at 5 p.m. ET, astronauts Serena Auñón, Cady Coleman, Samantha Cristoforetti, plus NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan will be stopping by Skunk Bear HQ – and I’ll be asking them your questions live on Periscope and SnapChat (user: nprnews)!

Submit your questions here or tweet #NPRSpaceJam.

Cady Coleman has been to space three times, once spending 158 days aboard the International Space Station. While on earth, she set several endurance and tolerance records when she participated in tests of new equipment. She plays flute in Bandella, a musical group made up of astronauts. Here, I’ve depicted her zero-gravity hair-do.

Serena Auñón hasn’t been to space … yet. She was selected in 2009 as a member of the 20th NASA astronaut class. She has a bachelors degree in electrical engineering, a doctorate in medicine, and a masters in public health.

Samantha Cristoforetti is the first Italian woman in space, the woman who has stayed in space the longest (199 days) and the first person to brew espresso in space. She’s a fighter pilot in the Italian Air Force and speaks fluent Italian, English, Russian, German, and French.

Ellen Stofan is the Chief Scientist of NASA, advising the administrator on all things scientific. She is especially interested in the geology of other planets.

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Save the Date! Our friends over at Ohio State University will be one of the Midwest sites for the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP)

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Grants for women in physics groups available

The American Physical Society (APS) is providing grants up to $1,000 to support women in physics groups, including launching a group at your university. The deadline is October 1st, so apply soon by emailing women@aps.org. The required application materials and selection criteria can be found here.

Here is a general description from the APS website:

Grants for women in physics groups to improve recruitment & retention of undergraduate women in physics 

The APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) invites applications for grants to women in physics (WiP) groups at U.S. colleges and universities. The purpose of these grants is to support the CSWP mission towards the recruitment and retention of women in physics at the undergraduate level. WiP groups are uniquely able to address this mission locally by encouraging and supporting the participation of women in their departments. 

Purpose

The purpose of this program is to improve recruitment and/or retention of women in physics through (1) the establishment of new WiP groups, (2) expansion or strengthening of existing groups, and (3) improvement in sustainability within new and existing groups. To this end, CSWP is calling for proposals from WiP groups who wish to provide meaningful experiences to students pursuing or considering an undergraduate degree in physics. Attendees of the CUWiP conferences are especially encouraged to apply.

Umich SWIP has been lucky enough to be funded by our department, so we have not applied for such grants, but if you would like help/advice/ideas for a proposal we would be happy to help as best as we can. Just send us an ask or contact us at swipboard@umich.edu. 

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APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics

Applications are open for 2016 CUWiP. The conferences will be held January 15th-17th, 2016 at the following nine (!) universities. Apply here, and please share with any interested undergraduate students!

Here is the description from the APS website:

“The APS CUWiP goal is to help undergraduate women continue in physics by providing them with the opportunity to experience a professional conference, information about graduate school and professions in physics, and access to other women in physics of all ages with whom they can share experiences, advice, and ideas.

A typical program will include research talks by faculty, panel discussions about graduate school and careers in physics, presentations and discussions about women in physics, laboratory tours, student research talks, a student poster session, and several meals during which presenters and students interact with each other.”

Don’t forget that accommodations will be provided, and travel reimbursement should be available from your department-- just ask.

Black Hills State University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Old Dominion University/Jefferson Lab

Ohio State University

Oregon State University

Syracuse University

University of California, San Diego

University of Texas, San Antonio/Southwest Research Institute

Wesleyan University

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Starting in 2009, SWIP has been running an annual physics demonstration day for eighth graders at Slauson Middle School in Ann Arbor, MI. This year SWIP teamed up with the Optics Society of UM to bring fun and interactive physics demonstrations to the eighth graders' science classrooms.

Photos:

Christina introduces students to diffraction

Danielle makes a non-newtonian fluid (cornstarch and water) dance on a speaker

Tyler and Stephanie watch as students explore projectile motion with an air rocket

Julia and Veronica show students what happens when you put a marshmallow in a vacuum

Andira bends a stream of polar water molecules using a charged rod

Jenna and Becca demonstrate sound waves using a Kundt’s Tube

The full set of photos (credit: Natasha Sachdeva of SWIP) can be found on SWIP’s new website. 

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Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997), also known as the "The First Lady of Physics" was a Chinese-American Physicist who certainly has a lot of "firsts" to her name. Here are some of them, selected from Wikipedia:

Believed to be the only Chinese person to have taken part in the Manhattan Project. (Joined the project in 1944.)

First Chinese-American to be elected into the U.S. National Academy of Sciences;

First female instructor in the Physics Department of Princeton University;

First woman with an honorary doctorate from Princeton University;

First female President of the American Physical Society, elected in 1975;

Received National Medal of Science in 1975

First person selected to receive the Wolf Prize in Physics in its inaugural year of 1978.

First living scientist to have an asteroid (2752 Wu Chien-Shiung) named after her.

Chien-Shiung Wu earned a B.S. in Physics from National Central University in Nanjing in 1934 and became a researcher at the Zhejiang University and Institute of Physics of the Academia Sinica. In 1936 Wu then came to America to pursue a Ph.D. in Physics at Berkeley, under the encouragement of a female professor, Prof. Jinghui Gu,  who in 1931 was the second woman to earn a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Michigan.

Chien-Shiung Wu is most famous for the Wu experiment, which established that parity conservation is violated by the weak interaction. Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, the theoretical physicists who originated the idea received the 1957 Nobel Prize in physics for this result. While Chien-Shiung Wu (most often cited as C.S. Wu) was left off the Nobel, she earned many awards and accolades throughout her career, including the Comstock Prize in Physics and the National Medal of Science. Here is a selected list from Wikipedia of her awards and achievements:

Member of the National Academy of Sciences (elected 1958)

Research Corporation Award 1958

Achievement Award, American Association of University Women 1959

John Price Wetherill Medal, The Franklin Institute, 1962

Comstock Prize in Physics, National Academy of Sciences 1964

Chi-Tsin Achievement Award, Chi-Tsin Culture Foundation, Taiwan 1965

Scientist of the Year Award, Industrial Research Magazine 1974

Tom W. Bonner Prize, American Physical Society 1975

National Medal of Science (U.S.) 1975

Wolf Prize in Physics, Israel 1978

Honorary Fellow Royal Society of Edinburgh

Fellow American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science

Fellow American Physical Society

[Photos courtesy of x, x, x]

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Photos from 2015 APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) at the University of Michigan.

The University of Michigan was selected as one of eight sites where the conference was hosted across the country Jan. 16th - 18th. At Michigan alone, over 130 physics undergraduates participated in lab tours, research talks, a Science Café, and career panels (click here for a detailed schedule). Thank you to all of our participants! 

Looking to attend in 2016? Check out the sites for next year! Applications will be available next Fall. 

[Photos by Jeff Micallef]

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I dont know if you guys know how much it meant to some of us at your conference that you had an openly gay grad panelist and faculty speaker. Thank you for being so inclusive.

You’re welcome! This means so much to us, Anon. Please feel free to contact us in the future! 

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Physics and Applied Physics REU Programs at UMich

Upcoming deadlines for the NSF REU Program Sites at the University of Michigan:

Physics Program - Friday, February 13th

Biophysics Program - Friday, February 20th

Interdisciplinary Program (Biophysics, Biochemistry, enzymology, marine biology, and more) - Sunday, March 1st

Get paid to do Physics or Applied Physics research at UMich this summer. Applications are free! More information and applications at other sites can be found through the NSF REU search page here!  We can't emphasize enough how much our experiences through REU internships shaped our own career paths. Go apply today. 

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Update: Many American Physical Society (APS) meetings are open to undergraduates, not just March Meeting. The other big one is the April Meeting, but here is a full list of APS meetings. The March and April meetings also have travel awards available, some of which are open to undergraduates. You should also check with your department and your research advisor (if you have one) as resources are often available for conference travel funding.

Hey tumblrverse! What conferences did you attend during undergrad? We have heard about the ones below. Reblog and add more to the list if you see some that are missing!

General

Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students

Women in Color STEM Conference

BEYA - Becoming...

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Save the Date! Our friends over at Ohio State University will be one of the Midwest sites for the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP)

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Undergraduate Conferences in Mathematics and Science

Hey tumblrverse! What conferences did you attend during undergrad? We have heard about the ones below. Reblog and add more to the list if you see some that are missing!

General

Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students

Women in Color STEM Conference

BEYA - Becoming Everything You Are - STEM Conference

National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 

Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science

Math

Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics

Institute for Advanced Study- Women in Mathematics 11 day Mentoring Experience

Joint Mathematics Meetings

Physics

Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP)

There is also an undergraduate program at the American Physical Society's March Meeting 

Chemistry

American Chemical Society Undergraduate Conference Info

(Thanks to candy-quackenbush for inspiring this post)

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Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943 - ) is a Northern Irish astrophysicist who discovered and analyzed the first radio pulsar as a graduate student in 1967.  She has also served as the president of the Royal Astronomical Society, president of the Institute of Physics, and president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

This week we will be counting down to the UMich Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) by posting a graphic each day from our Pioneering Women in Physics buttons. Graphic made by UMich SWIP Members Veronica Policht & Jessie Muir.

Only ONE more day!