Jon Pelz, professor, Department of Physics, will direct Ohio State’s new Bridge Program in physics beginning autumn semester. The program, funded by the American Physical Society (APS), promises to make a significant impact on increasing the numbers of underrepresented minorities earning doctoral degrees in physics. Pelz, and physics faculty members Chris Hammel, Jay Gupta, Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, and Michael Poirier, spearheaded the effort to establish a Bridge Program at Ohio State. Four students have been selected for Ohio State’s inaugural class in August.

“There are very few African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students—identified by APS as underrepresented minorities --enrolled in physics PhD programs,” Pelz said.

“Currently, about 40 new PhDs are awarded each year to minority doctoral students by the 185 institutions in the United States that grant PhDs. This is less than six percent of all physics PhDs awarded to U.S. citizens, even though underrepresented minorities make up about 35 percent of the U.S. college-age population as a whole. These numbers vividly illustrate the magnitude of the problem.

“In our quest to increase/produce more advanced degree holders in physics and other science fields, we cannot afford to ignore a third or our population due to a lack of role models, exposure, and understanding that a science PhD opens a viable and valuable career path.

“The goal of a PhD Bridge Program is to identify bachelor's-degree students with the talent and the ‘fire-in-the-belly’ drive to thrive as independent researchers, and provide them with the background coursework and mentoring that will allow them to excel in PhD programs. And we know that these programs can work.”

Since the mid 1990’s, Bridge Programs in other STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines in the California State University system have proven to be highly effective, with Bridge Program students completing PhDs in top universities at a substantially higher rate than the average for ALL students entering PhD programs. More recently Bridge Programs at Vanderbilt, Columbia, Michigan, and MIT have shown great success for physics students as well.

After several years of study and with funding from the National Science Foundation, the APS embarked on an initiative to create a network of up to 10 new Physics Bridge Programs.

Their goals are to create sustainable transition, or bridge, programs in PhD granting institutions; build collaborative nationwide networks; and offer institutional support by providing (in addition to funding) a “clearinghouse” of minority candidates; and resources for ongoing training.

This program provides one to two years of training and mentoring for talented, motivated students who have completed undergraduate studies in physics that are designed to enhance academic and research skills to prepare them to successfully transition into PhD programs.

Studies of Bridge Programs demonstrate that many people, who perhaps did not look good on paper and/or had not considered getting a PhD, are good candidates for graduate work. Data also show that their success rate is very high. Over 80 percent of those participating make a successful transition into PhD programs. Even more compelling are figures that show that a commitment to identifying students with potential can apply to all graduate students and have a major, positive impact on graduate education.

Pelz led a team of 10 faculty and staff P.I.'s to write the proposal to apply for the APS Bridge Program grant in November, 2012, that included--in addition to himself--Jay Gupta, Chris Hammel, Michelle McCombs, Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Michael Poirier, Andrew Heckler, Mohit Randeria, Bruce Patton, and Kris Dunlap. They had the full backing of their department—physics department faculty voted unanimously in favor of implementing such a program—the university, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School. The APS Bridge Program award was official in April, but even before Pelz received funding, the Department of Physics, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Center for Emergent Materials made a commitment of up to $160,000 a year to support it, and the Graduate School offered two Matching Tuition and Fee Awards with a total value of more than $83,000/year for non-resident students.”

The Bridge Program goes beyond the traditional classroom mode; students attend classes and study sessions that encourage them to learn from each other. “But the key element is substantial mentoring,” Pelz said.

Each Bridge student is assigned a faculty research mentor who brings the student into his or her lab where the student can develop research skills and gain insight into not just the techniques, but the process, of doing leading-edge research.

Equally important to their success is the amount of mentoring available to them from current graduate students, which helps them gain confidence in negotiating the graduate student culture.

Michelle McCombs, program manager, Center for Emergent Materials, is serving as Bridge Program coordinator, organizing mentoring and other activities to make sure students have access to a variety of resources.

“I will be responsible for ensuring that they have a wide range of professional development opportunities,” McCombs said. “For example, we will be bringing in lots of different speakers both internal and external. Also, I will help them become familiar with the nuts and bolts: how to prepare for the GRE, apply for their PhD program, make scientific posters and give presentations.”

Pelz and McCombs are excited about the program they are about to embark upon and confident that the basics are in place for the incoming students.

They should feel confident. From 27 original applicants, only seven institutions were asked to submit full proposals. From those seven, four were selected for day-long, full-site visits where reviewers met with deans, chairs, faculty, and graduate students.

“Two factors were critical in our selection,” Pelz said. “First, we have a dynamic, visible group of graduate students who play an active role in the life of the department. This large cohort of enthusiastic graduate student mentors was a great advantage to us because studies show that peer mentoring has been very important to the success of Bridge Programs.

“The other, is the large number of faculty who are deeply committed to making this a successful ongoing program by welcoming these students into their labs. A major requirement for APS funding is that institutions demonstrate that the program can be sustainable, because APS funding only last for three years.”

Ohio State will receive $60,000 per year for three years from APS to administer the Bridge Program. “The money, while nice, is not a huge amount,” Pelz said. “But the money is not the most important thing. It is the other resources that APS offers that are invaluable: access to a pool of applicants from all across the country, so that we don’t have to try to recreate/duplicate a nationwide recruiting network; access to everything that has been learned thus far about best-practices, and the instant credibility that this APS funding confers—these are the things that matter.”

It should be noted that while training two or three students per year seems like a low number, it will make a significant impact. The APS goal of fostering 10 new Bridge sites would nearly double the number of minority students receiving PhD's in physics. Since many graduates of doctoral programs become leaders in academia, industry or government, every new PhD produces a ripple effect that inspires students at all levels, puts more desperately-needed underrepresented minorities into the faculty pipeline, and helps create and perpetuate a new culture of diversity to address persistent disparities.