What is APS-IDEA?

The American Physical Society (APS) created the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (IDEA) in Summer 2020, as a network of teams from physics departments, laboratories, and other organizations from across the world working to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in their local institutions. Members of the Alliance communicate and learn through a shared Slack, monthly online learning community meetings, and periodic (virtual) workshops on topics including shared leadership and theories of cultural change. Faculty, staff, and students from many of the existing EDI efforts at CU joined APS-IDEA as a team representing CU Physics and JILA.

Goals

Our primary goals are to:

  • Disseminate knowledge and resources from the APS-IDEA community to the CU Physics and JILA communities
  • Foster coordination amongst the various CU physics EDI groups
  • Encourage broader participation in EDI education opportunities and work

and thereby support impactful and sustainable change.

Primary Ongoing and Completed Projects

  • Successful application to the Alliance (June 2020), involving
    • Collaboration of representatives of each existing EDI group
    • Endorsement by the Chairs of Physics and JILA
  • Dissemination of our first newsletter on the numerous EDI groups associated with physics at CU Boulder (January 2021)
  • Attending meetings of the full Alliance and our smaller “online learning community” collection of teams
  • Sharing questions and knowledge/experience on the Alliance Slack
  • Serving as a communication channel between EDI groups

Who are we?

Our team broadly represents: The Representation, Recruitment, and Retention (R-Cubed) committee; The Equity, Inclusion, and Cookies (EIC) committee; JILA Excellence in Diversity and Inclusivity (JEDI); Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (WaGMi); CU-Prime; Women of JILA

  • Julia Cline, graduate student — R-Cubed, WaGMi
  • Gayle Geschwind, graduate student — JEDI
  • Jessica Hoehn, postdoc — EIC
  • Loren Hough, professor — R-Cubed
  • Beth Kroger, staff — JEDI
  • Alexandra Lau, postdoc — EIC
  • Juniper Pollock, graduate student — R-Cubed
  • Brynn Reiff, graduate student — CU-Prime, JEDI, R-Cubed
  • Kevin Stenson, professor — R-Cubed

Get Involved

One of our goals is to support and foster coordination be tween the various EDI groups in CU Physics and JILA. If you are involved with an effort to increase equity, diversity, and inclusion in CU Physics and/or JILA, please let us know how we can support you! 

If you’re interested in joining the team, would like more information on us or a subgroup, or if you have feedback for us, please email us. We welcome new team members!