The APS Minority Bridge Program

Physics has one of the lowest participation rates for underrepresented minorities and women of all Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Things are improving for women and while still not representative of the population, the trends have been encouraging. Underrepresented minorities, however, have not been as fortunate. I will describe the current status of participation in physics, and a new program being launched by the American Physical Society that aims to significantly increase the number of minorities who receive PhDs in physics. The Minority Bridge Program is bringing together representatives from doctoral granting institutions and universities that educate minority students to establish a set of model programs based on the successes of existing efforts and capitalizing on the strengths of the American Physical Society. Our goal is to improve graduate education for all students by improving the opportunities for minority students