{"id":13510,"date":"2015-10-12T14:25:10","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T18:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=13510"},"modified":"2015-10-12T14:25:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T18:25:10","slug":"ucf-shines-at-national-physics-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-shines-at-national-physics-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Shines at National Physics Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NMCBP<\/a>UCF was well represented by a number of faculty and students at the American Physical Society (APS) National Mentoring Community & Bridge Program Conference<\/a> on October 9-11, 2015. Held in Miami, Florida at Florida International University<\/a>, this conference focused on mentor\/mentee relationships, gave guidance on how to build successful bridge programs and let attendees hear from students, faculty, and administrators who lead and support these programs. The American Physical Society Bridge Program (APS-BP) <\/a>is a program who’s\u00a0purpose is to increase the number of physics Ph.D.’s awarded to underrepresented minority students (URM).<\/p>\n

UCF’s Physics Department became a bridge site in 2015 with a goal to recruit and prepare\u00a0URM students for admissions to a physics Ph.D. program of their choice.<\/p>\n

Mentors in the APS-BP program are called to mentor the “whole” student. Ted Hoddapp<\/a>, Director of Education and\u00a0Diversity at the American Physics Society,\u00a0emphasized that “happy physicists do good physics”, one should never\u00a0work themselves until they are miserable in what\u00a0they do.<\/p>\n

\"NMCBP<\/a><\/p>\n

Mary James<\/a>, Dean for Institutional Diversity and the A. A. Knowlton Professor of Physics at Reed College, mentioned that mentors should make\u00a0certain their mentees know that\u00a0they are\u00a0available to help with anything that may interfere with their academic progress. “While\u00a0we may not be able to solve the problem ourselves,”\u00a0James\u00a0stated that,\u00a0“we can likely point them to resources in the university to help out.”<\/p>\n

The following faculty and staff\u00a0represented UCF’s bridge program\u00a0at\u00a0the APS National Mentoring Community & Bridge Program Conference:\"NMCBP<\/a><\/p>\n

Esperanza Soto Arcino<\/a>, Graduate Program Assistant<\/p>\n

Ahlam Al Rawi, Ph.D.<\/a>, Lecturer<\/p>\n

Elena Flitsiyan, Ph.D.<\/a>, Associate Lecturer\/Undergraduate Program Director<\/p>\n

Jackie Chini, Ph.D.<\/a>, Assistant Professor<\/p>\n

Along with the faculty, 5 UCF\u00a0BP Fellows also attended the conference along with\u00a0their advisors:<\/p>\n