Experiences from the APS Bridge Program

The goal of the APS Bridge Program is to rectify the disparity between the number of physics bachelor's degrees awarded to under-represented minority members and the corresponding number of physics PhDs awarded to the same group. As a student, I was given the advice to apply to this program at the end of my undergraduate work. I was selected, through the bridge program, as a bridge student and I was matched to the California State University at Long Beach (CSULB) to complete a master's degree. I was part of CSULB's first bridge program cohort. With the supervision and mentorship of the faculty at CSULB, I graduated from the program and successfully moved on to a physics PhD program at Florida State University (FSU). At FSU I maintained my connections with the bridge program through regular meetings with the bridge program coordinators and through interactions with fellow bridge students at the university. Prior to entering the bridge program, I had an interest in studying particle physics. At FSU I completed the PhD program in experimental particle physics by performing my research at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. Now, I have been placed as a postdoctoral scholar with the University of California San Diego, where I continue to perform research with the LHC.