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The outreach
program of Advanced Atomic Design Group led by Professor Demkov
The program is supported by the National
Science Foundation (DMR-0606464).
Its goal is to attract women to
physics by getting high-school students
involved in
research
over the summer before they make decisions about colleges. The
internship can cover the entire summer, but at the minimum should be at
least one full month. It offers a fixed stipend of $1000 for the entire
term. Participants work in
real research labs in the departments of physics or chemical engineering. In
addition a short course is offered at the start of the
program in June. This informal course (no credit is given),
given by UT graduate students, covers subjects from computer
modeling and quantum mechanics to scanning tunneling
microscopy and thin film growth.
Women in physical sciences or rather the gender imbalance in our field is
a pressing concern. Most people agree that there are a disproportionately
low number of women, particularly at the senior faculty level. The
importance of successful women scientist as role models for graduate
students has been pointed out. However, it is possible that the remedies
we implement at the college level may be too little too late. The
so-called pipeline starts well before college! In Texas
in the first year of high-school the students take a general science
course and at this point are akin to stem cells. The differentiation
takes place the second year when students may elect chemistry or physics
as a separate course of study. This observation led to creation of the Alice
in Wonderland Summer Program for Girls. This summer program is an
important part in the entire research project.
This outreach program started from 2005. There have been many high school
students, graduate students and professors involved in it. All of them have
enjoyed the program, which will hopefully encourage more students to join and
take a tour in the world of science. |
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