Speaker
Description
Stemming the leaky pipeline in physics has become a common topic in diversity, equity, and inclusion discussions in our field. A 2016 study [1] by Ivie, White, and Chu of the American Institute of Physics examines the results of a Longitudinal Study of Astronomy Graduate Students, commissioned to examine the factors that affect retention for both women and men. They found that “Relationship with graduate advisors and the two-body problem both had significant effects on working in physics or astronomy, as did completing a postdoc. The sex of the respondent had no direct effect on our measures of attrition, but indirectly affected attrition because women were less likely to report positive relationships with graduate advisors and more likely to report two-body problems.” Of course, this issue extends past women and impacts other minoritized groups not considered in this study, such as those in the LQBTQ community. Considering the large impact of this issue, our ask is to request specific funding to aid partner hires, especially for those universities and labs that do not have mechanisms in place to support them.
[1] https://journals.aps.org/prper/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020109
