Scholarship Application Open for African American Undergraduates Pursuing Physics, Astronomy

The TEAM-UP Together Scholarship Program is underway and will continue to accept applications for its next round of need-based scholarships until March 15, 2023. The scholarship program is one of TEAM-UP Together’s strategies aimed at doubling the number of African Americans earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy by 2030. The awards of $10,000 per academic year are to be used for tuition, fees, or supplies.

In December 2022, the TEAM-UP Together Scholarship Program selected its first cohort of 31 scholars. The application for the next round opened in November 2022, closes on March 15, 2023, and will culminate in another cohort of scholars announced this summer.

To apply, students must be African American or Black undergraduates majoring in physics or astronomy at accredited U.S. colleges or universities. Only students who are at the sophomore level or higher are eligible, but freshmen may apply for sophomore year funding. All eligible students can and should reapply each year for additional years of funding.

The online application requires written statements, a transcript, a certification of good academic standing from the student’s academic department, and one letter of recommendation. Students with any questions about the application can reach out to TEAMUPscholarships@aip.org for direct support.

The selection committee will consider applicants’ potential, intention, and commitment to continued academic development toward a bachelor’s degree in physics or astronomy and their level of financial need.

These awards are part of the multimillion-dollar TEAM-UP Together program that provides direct funding and support to African American undergraduate students majoring in physics or astronomy and to physics and astronomy higher education departments for efforts that align with the TEAM-UP Together mission.

TEAM-UP Together’s multifaceted approach will engage a variety of stakeholders within the scientific ecosystem, including faculty, departments, institutions, professional societies, funding organizations, policy leaders, and more, to effect systemic change and double the number of Black students earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy.

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ABOUT TEAM-UP TOGETHER

TEAM-UP Together is a collective action initiative led by the American Association of Physics Teachers, American Astronomical Society, American Institute of Physics, American Physical Society, and Society of Physics Students and aims to support the scientific community in doubling the number of African American students earning physics and astronomy bachelor's degrees annually by 2030. The pursuit of this goal is supported by these lead partners, their staff, volunteer leaders, and fundraising by AIP Foundation. The TEAM-UP Together scholarships are funded by a grant from the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International. Additionally, TEAM-UP Together is aligned with a number of bold initiatives being undertaken by the lead organizational partners and other AIP Member Societies and Affiliates to address underrepresentation and inequity in the physical sciences. To learn more, check out teamuptogether.org.

TEAM-UP Together has also recently been recognized by the White House as one of the commitments in the national strategy to drive transformative equitable change in the U.S. STEMM ecosystem. As a result, AIP is a founding partner of the U.S. STEMM Opportunity Alliance— a collaboration that aims to bring together organizations and entities from across sectors and scientific communities committed to building a STEMM ecosystem rooted in equity, inclusion, and scientific excellence to power progress, innovation, and prosperity for all by 2050.

TEAM-UP Together Awards 31 Scholarships to African American Students in Physics, Astronomy

TEAM-UP Together is pleased to announce its first cohort of scholars, 31 African American students who will each receive $10,000 for the 2022-23 academic year. The scholarship program aims to reduce financial barriers that prevent many Black students from completing their undergraduate education in physics and astronomy.

“Growing up I always longed to see a scientist that looked like me. Although I didn't have the resources, I did whatever I could to learn more about the field I was so passionate about,” said Ayanna Mann, a TEAM-UP Together scholar pursuing a physics degree at Howard University. After graduating, Mann plans to earn a doctorate in astrophysics, and she believes this funding will help prepare her for that future.

“This is my primary motivator for wanting to obtain my PhD. I will not only be pursuing a career I love, but I will also be changing my community's perspective on what their life can be.”

The TEAM-UP Together awards are part of the multimillion-dollar scholarship program that provides direct funding and support to African American undergraduate students majoring in physics and astronomy. A collective action initiative, TEAM-UP Together is a partnership between the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the Society of Physics Students. TEAM-UP Together is sponsored by the Simons Foundation International.

“These students have demonstrated their passion and drive for physics and astronomy, and we are thrilled to celebrate their achievements while helping to ease some of their financial burden,” said Arlene Modeste Knowles, TEAM-UP Together project manager. “This is an exciting step toward our goal of doubling the number of African American students earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy by 2030.”

"We are delighted to partner with TEAM-UP Together to fund these scholarships that will provide the personal and financial support students from under-represented groups need," said David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation and of Simons Foundation International. “We are also excited to support, through TEAM-UP Together, physics and astronomy departments that are putting real change in motion at their institutions to diversify science.”

For decades, the percentage of African Americans earning degrees in physics has been egregiously and persistently low—reaching just 3% in 2018 according to an AIP survey. To address this issue, TEAM-UP Together is comprised of two programmatic elements. The initiative supports students throughout their undergraduate journey and academic departments who implement programs to effect systemic change.

In addition to direct funding, this game-changing, equity-focused initiative will provide undergraduate scholars mentorship, research experiences, and a supportive community in which to thrive academically and to connect with others.

Awardees come from undergraduate institutions across the country, including seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities and one Predominantly Black Institution. Ten of the students are majoring in astronomy and astrophysics-related disciplines, while 21 are physics majors.

Recipient Alana Thigpen, a second-year student in astrobiology and biogeosciences who wants to explore extraterrestrial mining to combat environmental pollution on Earth, pushed herself out of her comfort zone to attend Arizona State University.

“This award means a lot to me because I’m an older sister,” she said. “I’m trying to show my brother that even though our high school didn’t offer that many opportunities and a lot of people stay home when they graduate, that you can go somewhere. You just really have to put the drive and effort into it.”

Likewise, Derod Deal, also a 2022 recipient, is majoring in astrophysics at the University of Florida. His passion for exploring the nature of our universe and support from mentors have put him on the path toward graduate school.

“When times get rough, it is important to revisit your core beliefs as a person and have the grit to accomplish what you want to do,” said Deal. “Receiving this scholarship confirms that I have to keep going and push through boundaries to become a better scholar.” 

Applications for the next round of scholarships are due March 15, 2023. Further details on application and selection criteria can be found here. Students are eligible to apply for multiple years of funding.

Carolyn Parker: First African American Woman To Obtain A Graduate Degree In Physics

Carolyn Beatrice Parker is the first African-American woman known to have gained a postgraduate degree in physics.

Parker (1917–1966) was a physicist who worked from 1943 to 1947 on the Dayton Project, the plutonium research and development arm of the Manhattan Project. She then became an assistant professor in physics at Fisk University.

Parker earned two master's degrees, one in mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1941 and one in physics from MIT in 1951. Her completion of a doctorate in physics at MIT was prevented by the leukemia that would kill her at age 48. Leukemia was an occupational risk for workers on the Dayton Project.

Carolyn Beatrice Parker was born in Gainesville, Florida on November 18, 1917. Her father was Julius A. Parker, a physician who according to the family, was a student of John Kenneth Galbraith, and the second African-American to receive a PhD in business from Harvard. Her mother was Della Ella Murrell Parker. Della Parker was a sister of Joan Murrell Owens, a marine biologist who was one of the first African-American women to receive a PhD in geology.

Carolyn Parker was one of six children, all but one of whom received natural science or mathematics degrees. Mary Parker Miller had a Masters of Science in mathematics from New York University in 1975; Juanita Parker Wynter had a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and chemistry, and a Master of Science from New York University; Julie Leslie Parker had a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Fisk University and a master's degree in medical technology from Meharry Medical College; and Julius Parker Jr had a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Michigan. The sixth sibling, Martha Parker, studied social sciences, gaining a master's degree from Temple University.

Carolyn Parker graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. (Bachelor of Arts) degree from Fisk University in 1938, then an A.M. (Master of Arts) in mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1941.

She undertook further studies from 1946–1947 at Ohio State University, towards the end of time of her time on the Dayton Project. She gained a Master's in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1951.Parker's family report that she had completed the course work for her PhD in physics at MIT around 1952 or 1953, but leukemia prevented her from defending her dissertation.[1] She is the first African-American woman known to have gained a postgraduate degree in physics.

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The Remarkable Career of Shirley Ann Jackson

Shirley Ann Jackson worked to help bring about more diversity at MIT, where she was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate. She then applied her mix of vision and pragmatism in the lab, in Washington, and at the helm of a major research university.

Shirley Ann Jackson arrived at MIT in the fall of 1964 as one of just a handful of black students and the valedictorian of her public high school in Washington, D.C. In the midst of working on her first physics problem set, she emerged from her room and noticed all the other first-year women on her floor out in a common area, doing theirs together. “If you know anything about MIT, you know that working the problem sets is a big deal,” she says. “So I gathered up my paperwork and said, ‘May I join you?’

“One of them looked up and said, ‘Go away.’

“I said, ‘I’ve done half the problems already and I know how to do the other ones.’

“And another girl said, ‘Didn’t you hear her? She said go away.’”

And that was just the start. “It was pretty isolating,” Jackson says of her undergraduate years. Students avoided sitting next to her in lecture halls. If she joined others in the dining room, they would generally finish faster or skip their dessert. When that freshman study group rejected her, she went back to her room and cried. But after a while she told herself, “Well, I do have to hand in these physics problems.” So, she says, “I got myself together and finished the work.”

As a girl, Jackson studied the circadian rhythms of bees she captured from flowers and shrubs around her home.

Jackson would need that kind of resilience to see her through nine years at MIT, as both an undergraduate and a graduate student in physics. Becoming the first African-American woman to receive a PhD from the Institute—in any field—served as prologue to a career that has spanned research, public policy, and academic leadership. She’s worked as a theoretical physicist at Bell Laboratories and chaired the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She co-chaired President Obama’s President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and served on the boards of IBM and FedEx. And since 1999, she’s been president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

“It’s nearly impossible to understand the full sweep of Shirley’s career, from academia to government to business,” says Sylvester Gates, a physicist at Brown University who considered Jackson his mentor at MIT. “She has been extraordinarily successful in all of those realms. She also has a magnificent ability to understand organizations and how to be effective within them ... She has always been the cool head in the group.”

Read more: The Remarkable Career of Shirley Ann Jackson