American Physical Society

The American Physical Society (APS) is the lead founding scientific society that played an integral part in the DDLP prior to the official launch of the NSF Includes: IGEN Project in September 2018. The APS Bridge Program partners with over 50 educational institutions around the country that have launched bridge programs in their respective physical sciences departments.

The APS is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities.

APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, MD (Headquarters), Ridge, NY, and Washington, DC.

The American Physical Society Bridge Program (APS-BP) is an effort to increase the number of physics PhDs awarded to underrepresented minority (URM) students, defined by the project as African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. The APS-BP has done this by creating sustainable transition (bridge) programs and a national network of doctoral granting institutions that provide substantial mentoring for students to successfully complete PhD programs.

Program Goals

• Increase, within a decade, the fraction of physics PhDs awarded to underrepresented minority students to match the fraction of physics Bachelor’s degrees granted to these groups
• Develop, evaluate, and document sustainable model bridging experiences that improve the access to and culture of graduate education for all students, with emphasis on those underrepresented in doctoral programs in physics
• Promote and disseminate successful program components to the physics community

Key Components

Successful Bridge Programs share certain key elements, and exist within a supportive institutional context. These contextual and programmatic components build on one another to provide students with a complete educational experience, from admissions and induction to research and mentoring.

Opportunities

The American Physical Society retains an up-to-date listing of jobs, internships and fellowships available in Physics. The general summary of fellowships available annually are listed here. 

Apply for the APS Congressional Science Fellowship, where Fellows serve one year on the staff of a senator, representative or congressional committee.

Apply for the APS-Simons Travel and Professional Development Awards to fund travel for yourself and/or your students. Professional development activity examples: inclusive workshops, education seminars, and scientific meetings. Make sure to emphasize how it benefits yourself and your students.