APS, through the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP), is committed to encouraging the recruitment, retention, and career development of women physicists at all levels. Workshops for women physicists provide valuable communication and negotiations training. The site visit program assists physics department chairs in making their atmosphere more welcoming to women. The Blewett Scholarship allows women to return to scientific research after an absence. Publications feature the accomplishments of women in physics and encourage young women to consider physics as a career.
M. Hildred Blewett Scholarship
To enable early-career women to return to physics research careers after having had to interrupt those careers for family reasons, APS offers women the opportunity to apply for the Blewett Scholarship. The scholarship consists of a one-year award of up to $45,000 (applicants can apply in a subsequent year for one additional year of support). Allowed expenses include dependent care (limited to 50% of the award), salary, travel, equipment, and tuition and fees. Applicants must have an affiliation with a research-active educational institution or national lab. While no matching contribution from the institution is required, institutional support would be viewed as evidence of support for the applicant.
Three women physicists have been named winners of Blewett Scholarships for 2008. They are Janice Wynn Guikema, Johns Hopkins University; Firouzeh Sabri, University of Memphis; and Ya Li, Hampton University.
Blewett Scholarship information
Blewett Scholarship FAQ's.
New "Celebrate Women in Physics" Poster
The new APS Women in Physics poster is ready for shipping. This full color poster highlights women physicists actively pursuing their work. The free poster is 16" x 20" and fits easily on a door or desk.
Order "Celebrate Women in Physics" Poster
Professional Skills Development Workshops
APS will offer one-day workshops for women post-docs and tenured women physicists on Sunday, March 15 in Pittsburgh, PA and Friday, May 1 in Denver, CO in association with the 2009 APS annual meetings. Women of color are especially encouraged to apply. Information will be available in Fall 2009.
Special Events
CSWP sponsors or co-sponsors a variety of events of special interest to women (and others) in physics at the APS annual meetings. These events include invited sessions as well as opportunities for networking.
Gender Equity Conference
APS sponsored a workshop, Gender Equity: Strengthening the Physics Enterprise in Universities and National Laboratories, that brought together chairs of 50 major research-oriented academic physics departments as well as about 15 physics-related managers of major national laboratories.
Agenda and selected presentations
Gender Equity suggested reading list
Improving the Climate for Women in Physics
CSWP helps to fund site visits by teams of women physicists to college and university physics departments and national labs. Following the visit, the team makes recommendations to improve the climate for women undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.
APS Prizes, Awards and Fellowship
A nomination to Fellowship in the APS or for a prize or award is among the highest honors a physicist can receive.
Nominate a woman for a fellowship from APS, and see current women fellows.
Nominate a woman for an APS prize or award, and see current women recipients.
See also information on the Maria Goeppert Mayer Award, which recognizes and enhances outstanding achievements by women physicists in the early years of their careers and provides opportunities for them to present these achievements to others through public lectures.
