| Topic | Facilitator/panelist | Description | Location |
| Workshop A-I:
Being a scientist is tough sometimes: creating and maintaining sustainable mental-health strategies | Kathleen Oolman (UIUC) | Recent studies have highlighted that a staggering number of early career scientists face mental health problems. These numbers are even higher for individuals in groups typically underrepresented in STEM fields. Throughout this workshop, I will use illustrative examples from experiences faced by myself and my peers to discuss how to deal with internal and external obstacles and stressors. Through hands-on activities, you will generate strategies to: discuss build and maintain healthy work/life balance; grow a solid community and mentorship relationships; and how to deal with imposter syndrome and failure. | Devlin 018 |
| Workshop A-II:
Small Group Discussions | Malavika Chandra (Boston College) Emily Maher (MCLA) | We will organize parallel small group discussions for students. Topics include BIPOC experiences in physics, the journeys of first-generation physics students, and strategies for breaking stereotypes. We also encourage students to create their own discussion groups based on their interests. To ensure smooth and enriching conversations, we have a dedicated faculty member overseeing these discussions, actively participating in each one. | Devlin 112 |
| Workshop A-III: Career Opportunities at National R&D Laboratories and Government Contractors for Women in STEM | Moderator: Rebecca Dally (NIST) Panelists: Emily Lesser (MIT Lincoln) Jillian Ireland (MIT Lincoln) Laura Ross (MIT Lincoln) Amber McCreary (Northrop Grumman) | This workshop delves into the myriad career opportunities available for women in STEM at national Research and Development (R&D) laboratories. Participants will gain insights into engaging in research and prototyping hardware, with a specific emphasis on contributing to and supporting distinct missions and goals. National labs, as discussed in this session, offer a unique environment with diverse expertise under one roof, providing unparalleled flexibility for career growth post-degree. We will also provide the perspective of what it is like to work at a company that is focused on R&D with government agencies/contracts, and how this can be different from industry in general. Join us to explore the enriching possibilities and unique career paths awaiting women in STEM at these influential institutions. | Devlin 117 |
| Workshop A-IV: Pathways in Physics Education | Michelle Tomasik (MIT) L Dana (WPI) Caleb Bonyun (Manchester Community College, MIT) Shams El-Adawy (MIT) | While you have interacted with physics instructors all throughout your education, you may not have thought about what their career trajectory and daily work looks like. Join this panel discussion to hear from physicists who are primarily focused on education; learn how they got there and what they do when they aren’t in the classroom. If you are considering a career in education, please join us! | Devlin 218 |
| Workshop A-V: Navigating Careers as Physicists | Moderator: Sarah Schlotter (Wolf Greenfieldy) Panelists: Colleen Marie Foote (MGH) Tara Medich (MGH) Rebecca Christianson (Commonwealth Fusion) | This panel discussion will explore the non-traditional and non-linear paths of several physicists. Discussion will highlight various challenges and opportunities specific to being a woman in science and explore the unique perspectives of the panel members’ journey. Participants are encouraged to engage with the panel throughout the discussion and Q&A. | Devlin 221 |
| Workshop A-VI: From Academia to Industry: What Can Your Physics Degree Do For You? | Moderator: Erin Teich (Wellesley) Panelists: Katie Hall (Wellesley College) Yoonji Choe (InterSystems) Khadijeh Sona Najafi (IBM) Leah McRaven (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) | This session will explore the wide range of career opportunities that are open to you when you have a degree in physics. We will first discuss statistics related to the diverse career placement and success of those with Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees, and PhDs in physics, and will then hear from a panel of four women representing this variety of career paths. Our panelists, who hail from academia (Wellesley College), industry (IBM and InterSystems), and a nonprofit research institute (Woods Hole), will speak on their personal career journeys and how their degree in physics helped them along the way. We will close with a Q and A session designed to impart the message that a degree in physics is enormously beneficial to you, no matter what career path you choose! | Devlin 227 |
| Workshop B-I:
Small Group Discussions | Malavika Chandra (Boston College) Emily Maher (MCLA) | We will organize parallel small group discussions for students. Topics include BIPOC experiences in physics, the journeys of first-generation physics students, and strategies for breaking stereotypes. We also encourage students to create their own discussion groups based on their interests. To ensure smooth and enriching conversations, we have a dedicated faculty member overseeing these discussions, actively participating in each one. | Devlin 018 |
| Workshop B-II: Bringing Physics to Art | Andrzej Herczyński (Boston College) | Nature has been the subject of art as long as art has existed. Ancient Greek and Roman vases, frescoes, and mosaics depict animals in action, boats moving across the sea by oar or sail, etc. Beginning in the Middle Ages, fluid effects—waves, waterfalls, streams—and other depictions of motion appear in landscapes and domestic scenes. In parallel, from the earliest times musicians have derived inspiration from birds’ songs, murmur of water, and thunderstorms. But nature can also be directly engaged in creating art. Some abstract painters adopted fluid phenomena themselves—jets, sprays, and liquid instabilities—in their artistic techniques. And both painters and composers have fashioned fractal patterns, the “geometry of nature,” to great effect. This talk offers a few examples of how artists may invite physics to help define the form of their works. | Devlin 112 |
| Workshop B-III: The Physics of the Food Systems | Giulia Menichetti (Harvard) | Naturally occurring compounds and additives lack extensive records describing their presence in food, their quantified amounts, and their binding interactions with known protein targets. As a result, the chemical complexity of our food is still largely unmapped. This sparse characterization limits our chances to develop a mechanistic understanding of how food chemicals impact our health. In recent years, the Foodome project has tackled several aspects of this challenging universe, leveraging the expertise of a diverse group of scientific communities, from computer science to epidemiology. In this talk, I will cover some of the major scientific contributions of the Foodome project. Specifically, I will start with our efforts to create the most extensive curated library of food chemicals before exploring how this new body of knowledge prompted us to develop quantitative tools predicting protein-ligand binding and quantifying the natural scale of nutrient concentrations in food. Additionally, the nutrient patterns we observed in the food composition data have allowed us to define a metric of food processing, which we used to characterize the quality of the food supply, and to suggest public health intervention strategies with minimal impact on individuals’ dietary patterns. | Devlin 117 |
| Workshop B-IV: From Students to Scientists: Diverse Journeys Through Physics | Moderator: Inés Maurana Sendoya (Wellesley) Amy Marks (Wellesley) Panelists: Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley) Wenzhao Wei (Wellesley) Kathleen Oolman (UIUC) Alejandra Rodriguez (Wellesley) | Join a panel discussion with an undergraduate student, graduate student, research scientist and faculty member as they share unique perspectives on challenges they have faced and triumphs they have earned. The workshop will include ample time for Q&A from the audience. | Devlin 218 |
| Workshop B-V: Academic careers in physics: the secret menu to design your own path | Moderator: Casey Berger (Smith College) Panelists: Masha Kamenetska (Boston University) Giulia Semeghini (Harvard) Beatriz Sarah Yankelevich (MIT) Eleonora Polini (MIT) | Academia can seem like the “default option” for careers in physics when you’re a student, surrounded by faculty who chose the academic route. But there’s much more variety than you might think, if you know where to look. Within academia, there exist a wealth of choices and a variety of career paths. This panel will talk about uncovering the various options and how to think about the decisions that have to be made along the way, from what kind of academic role to take, to how to find room for your work as well as your community and your hobbies, to how you’ll even know if an academic path is right for you. | Devlin 221 |
| Workshop B-VI: Resume and CV Writing | Kayla Pelland (Boston College) | Join the Career Center for this dynamic resume writing workshop to acquire essential skills in crafting compelling resumes. Learn proven strategies to highlight your achievements, showcase your strengths, and tailor your resume for maximum impact. Elevate your professional profile and confidently navigate the job market with a standout resume that captures the attention of employers. | Devlin 227 |