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  • Open Access

Isolation and connectedness among Black and Latinx physics graduate students

Rachel E. Scherr

Mike A. Lopez

Marialis Rosario-Franco

  • University of Washington, Bothell, Washington 98011, USA

  • The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA

  • University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA

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Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 16, 020132 – Published 3 November, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.020132

Abstract

Racial or ethnic isolation may negatively impact physics graduate students’ academic and professional experience. An interview study with 16 doctoral students who were considered to be particularly at risk of such isolation found that (i) the students interviewed are mostly not the only member of their racial or ethnic group in their programs; (ii) students have diverse perceptions of who they consider to be part of their racial or ethnic group, such that their unique perspectives need to be taken into account by programs that wish to support them; and (iii) students report negative racial experiences in their programs, such as bias, expectations of service, family and financial difficulties, and political threats. Overall, these findings present both challenges and opportunities for supporting Black and Latinx physics graduate students in ways that are meaningful to them.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 16, 020132– Published 3 November, 2020
  • Received 15 January 2020
  • Accepted 1 October 2020
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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