UCI Hosting APS-sponsored Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP)

The application site is now open (sites.uci.edu/cuwip2020) and closes Friday, October 4, 2019. 

 

Please advertise the conference among your physics majors, encourage them to apply, and help support them to attend if they are accepted to the conference. 

 

The conference will start with a welcome reception Friday evening, January 17, 2020, and end Sunday afternoon, January 19. The conference will be hosted jointly with sister conferences at Black HIlls State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Temple University, Texas A&M University, College Station, University of Chicago, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Minnesota, University of Oklahoma, University of South Florida, University of Toronto (Canada), Washington State University, Yale University. 

 

The keynote presentation will be given by Andrea Liu, a theoretical soft and living matter physicist who received her A. B. and Ph.D. degrees in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Cornell University, respectively, and will be webcast to all twelve regional conferences. 

 

The conference at UCI will bring together successful female physicists and over 350 undergraduate women in physics to highlight career opportunities for women in physics and the contributions of women in physics. The meeting will provide ample opportunities for interacting with fellow physicists. The conference will include the following activities: 

 

   1. presentations by professional physicists on their cutting edge research and personal career paths; 

   2. panels featuring career opportunities outside academia; 

   3. workshops or panels offering guidance on how to get involved in summer research, the graduate school application process, applying to transfer

       to a four-year college from a community college, and preparing for and applying for jobs in industry; 

   4. an opportunity for undergraduate attendees to present their research in a poster session; 

   5. tour of UCI physics labs and the UCI campus; 

   6. an EXPO featuring a Grad School Fair, a Career Fair, and resources from national physics-related societies. 

 

Lodging and meals will be provided for participants who are accepted to the conference. In the past we have been able to ensure that most students had travel support either through their department or through the conference.  Physics departments are strongly encouraged to provide support for travel for their own students so that we can provide support where the need is greatest. Considering that the number of applicants has risen sharply in recent years, departmental support is crucial so that we can accept the largest number of students.

 

You can download a poster here, which we hope you will post in prominent locations. Please also circulate an announcement to students in your department. 

 

Immediately before the conference on January 16-17, 2020, we will hold the ActionS for Community ExcelleNce & Development (ASCEND) workshop led by graduate students, which will guide a small group of undergraduate students through career development. Students will define their own definition of professional success and identify and cultivate beneficial mentoring relationships.

 

More information on the UCI conference can be found on our website: sites.uci.edu/cuwip2020.

 

Websites for the other conference sites are given on the APS page at www.aps.org/cuwip.  The national application site is hosted by the APS and is now open. The deadline for applications is October 4, 2019.

 

 

Please send any questions on the APS CUWiP @ UCI 2020 conference to Mu-Chun Chen (cuwip2020@uci.edu), 949-824-7646.

 

This conference series has been partially supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and local hosting institutions, and is sponsored by the American Physical Society. 

 

Thank you for helping publicize the Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics.

 

Mu-Chun Chen (Chair of Local Organizing Committee)