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.

Virginia NAACP Opposes Governor Glenn Younkin’s Order to Review College Board’s AP African American Studies

The Virginia State Conference NAACP (Virginia NAACP) is outraged by Governor Glenn Youngkin’s decision to review the College Board’s AP African American Studies assessment. There should be no question as to whether African American Studies is a worthy topic of study from an administration that stated a desire to teach all of American history. 

Dr. Amy Tillerson-Brown, Virginia NAACP Education Chair, states,

“Governor Youngkin is using Executive Order #1 to target the content and validity of AP African American Studies courses, which is contradicting his desire to teach a full and accurate history to students in the Commonwealth. 

Robert B. Barnette, Jr, President, states.

“Governor Younkin’s action is an attempt to erase the experiences and contributions of Black people. When Black children cannot see themselves and their experiences reflected in the history of this country, their humanity is diminished, and it leaves them vulnerable to attack.”

The Virginia NAACP firmly believes that if school curriculums do not include and value the history and culture of Black people, then it is impossible to value the Black people that learn and work in Virginia’s schools. The way to erode democracy is to chip away at the historical context to diminish people’s understanding of what occurred in the past and how to recognize what is happening now and in the future. 

The Virginia NAACP is committed to advocating for equitable state policies. The Virginia NAACP will continue to closely monitor the actions of the Governor and his administration on this issue.

SWEETWATER Official Trailer

Watch the official trailer for SWEETWATER, inspired by the true story of Hall of Famer Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, the first African American to sign an NBA contract. Exclusively in theatres, April 14.

SWEETWATER stars Everett Osborne as Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, Kevin Pollak, Cary Elwes, Jeremy Piven, Richard Dreyfuss, Gary Clark Jr., Jim Caviezel, and Bobby Portis.

The movie is written and directed by Martin Guigui/

Watch the trailer below:

Malcolm X's family files $100M wrongful death lawsuit against the NYPD, state and federal agencies

On the 58th anniversary of civil rights leader, Malcolm X’s death his family announced that they would file a wrongful death lawsuit for $100 million alleging the CIA, FBI and the NYPD had a hand in his death.

Tuskegee University named part of first HBCU Research Center

Tuskegee University was named to participate in the first University Affiliated Research Center in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense with an HBCU focus. This is the 15th UARC, but the first associated with HBCUs and the first sponsored by the Air Force.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III made the announcement at Howard University, where the consortium will be based. The main objective of the tactical autonomy research to be conducted at Tuskegee, in collaboration with Howard University and other HBCU consortium member institutions, is to design, develop and demonstrate autonomous systems and technologies capable of performing specific missions in complex environments with minimum human interference.

Tuskegee’s participation is part of its Strategic Plan goal for research, innovation and entrepreneurship to move to the R2 classification outlined by Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education. R2 universities have “high research activity,” which means they award at least 20 research doctoral degrees annually and have at least $5 million in total research expenditures.

“This partnership fits with our goal to establish innovative solutions through research, entrepreneurship and scholarly activities,” said Dr. Charlotte P. Morris, Tuskegee president. “Our goal is to be a pre-eminent educational and research institution with an R2 designation to increase external grants for research. While this collaboration includes several HBCUs, the long-term benefit for the university and our students is enormous.”

Tuskegee joins Howard and Jackson State University, Hampton University, Bowie State University, Norfolk State University, Delaware State University, Florida Memorial University, and Tougaloo College in this collaboration.

“The Tuskegee University team will take an applied engineering research approach whereby testing proposed solutions on prototyped and/or experimental autonomous systems that are of military relevance to the DOD sponsors/stakeholders,” said Dr. Mandoye Ndoye, who represents Tuskegee on the initiative. “Through the new cyber-engineering-focused computer engineering program, the Tuskegee University team is well-positioned to engage in cybersecurity research and education for autonomous systems. This project is indeed an opportunity for our computer, electrical and other engineering students to participate in applied research and, through real-world projects, gain practical knowledge in hardware security and cyber-security for tactical autonomy applications.”

The Tuskegee University team is comprised of Dr. Mandoye Ndoye, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Marc Karam, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Heshmat Aglan, Dean and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mr. Johnny Baker, DoD AERIC program manager.