Wayne State hosts national conference empowering women in physics
Hundreds of physicists and students will be in Detroit this weekend for the 2017 American Physical Society (APS) Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) the first conference of its kind hosted at Wayne State University.
The program will include research talks by prominent female physicists, panel discussions about graduate school and careers in physics, presentations, and discussions about women in physics, laboratory tours, a planetarium show and student research oral and poster presentations.
The goal of the CUWiP is to empower undergraduate women as they pursue their physics careers by providing them with the opportunity to experience a professional conference and network with other women in physics of all ages with whom they can share experiences, advice, and ideas.
"Women and gender minorities are severely underrepresented in physics. Since its inception as a grass-roots movement in 2006, CUWiP has since become one of the key initiatives of the APS in helping undergraduate women continue in physics. This year, we are pleased to host CUWiP in Detroit and at Wayne State, where our culture of dynamism, resilience, and diversity dovetail with this conference's mission to foster a culture of inclusivity in the sciences and thereby enhance our collective academic mission," said Nausheen Shah, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Wayne State and chair of the CUWiP organizing committee.
The conference's poster session is open to the public and takes place at WSU's McGregor Memorial Conference Center from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14.
In addition to the CUWiP at Wayne State University, eight other regional CUWiP meetings will take place simultaneously across the country. Locations include Harvard University, Montana State University, Princeton University, Rice University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Wisconsin and Virginia Tech.
Follow along with conference attendees by using the hashtags #apscuwip and #wsucuwip on social media.
The CUWiP conferences are supported in part by the National Science Foundation and by the Department of Energy. The 2017 APS CUWiP meeting"¯at Wayne State University has also received support from the Department of Physics, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Office of Vice President of Research, the Graduate School and the Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion.