Women who help shape the future of US particle and nuclear physics

In recent years, there have been major community physics planning events in both particle and nuclear physics, where many women played significant roles; they were “Snowmass 2021”^1 and Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan (LRP)^2. Snowmass 2021, the US Community Study on the Future of Particle Physics, was a grassroots study to plan for US particle physics in the upcoming decade 2025-2035, organized by the APS Division of Particles and Fields. It began with a kick-off meeting at the 2020 APS April Meeting and a Community-Wide Planning Meeting in October of 2020, paused between January and September 2021 due to the COVID pandemic and finally concluded at the Community Summer Study meeting at the University of Washington in July 2022. The US nuclear-physics community also conducted a community-wide workshop and study that led to the 8th long-range plan published by NSAC since 1979: “A New Era of Discovery: The 2023 Long-Range Plan for Nuclear Science”. This new document provides a roadmap for advancing the nation's nuclear-science research programs over the next decade. The plan highlights scientific opportunities in nuclear physics today to maintain world leadership in the context of four different budget scenarios and details progress since the last long-range plan. The document also features the impact of nuclear science on other fields and applications of the research that benefit society.

In this talk, we will be presenting interviews^3 with a few women in both particle and nuclear physics who were conveners for the “Snowmass 2021” study and town-hall meeting organizers for the 2023 Long-Range Plan, whose contributions led to the final products for the community. In these interviews, they share their passion for their research, their interests and hobbies outside of research, what got them interested in physics, obstacles they overcame, and provide tips and suggestions for students who may be interested in studying physics and becoming physicists.

[1] Snowmass, the US particle physics planning community https://snowmass21.org/

[2] Nuclear-Science Advisory Committee Long Range Plan (LRP) “A New Era of Discovery: The 2023 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Scienc https://science.osti.gov/np/nsac/Reports

[3] “My Journey as a Physicist” Podcast https:/sites.google.com/msu.edu/phy480905/