Collaborative Research: Access Expansion: Growing a Network of Equity-Focused Programs in the Physical Sciences

This award supports the Access Network, a project aimed at substantially improving equity and inclusion in the physical sciences. Research has shown that many common existing cultural features of physics departments disproportionately and negatively impact women and underrepresented minority students, ultimately leading to their attrition. Students and faculty in physics departments have created programs using research-based strategies that cultivate a culture that welcomes and values students’ different identities.

The Access Network, formed in 2015, combines nine of these single campus programs into a national network while providing them with resources, expertise, and knowledge related to equity work, institutional change, and STEM education. Evidence shows that Access sites have positively transformed the student experience, and that the Network supports the success of these sites.

The lessons learned in developing intensive mentorship and workshops to new sites and deliberately expanding leadership will be of value to others attempting to apply best practices in student support to new populations and scale local efforts to national movements. Documentation will expand the set of resources for new and existing programs, which can be used within the Network and beyond.

Finally, ongoing evaluation will contribute to an understanding of the impacts of the Network on the individual sites and of the sites on their participants.

The Access Network works towards a more equitable and inclusive physics culture. Driven by a set of shared principles (e.g., student voice, community building) and a suite of programmatic offerings (e.g., mentorship, model building courses, community events, early research opportunities), each site is tailored to the needs of its unique population, ranging from a large number of Deaf and hard of hearing students at the Rochester Institute of Technology to Black commuter students at Chicago State University.

The Network supports each site by providing relevant expertise, community support, mentored leadership opportunities, and shared resources. By helping students succeed and empowering them as leaders, Access supports these students in changing the culture of physics to make it more inclusive, welcoming, and equitable.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.