Diversity Statement
The National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP) believes that all individuals, regardless of gender, age, race, ethnic background, disability, sexual preference, or national origin, must be provided with equality of opportunity to pursue and advance in physics careers. In order to meet that goal the physics community within the United States must better engage the knowledge and talents of our diverse population, increase the viability of physics as a career option for all individuals, and promote the pursuit of physics careers by historically under-represented groups.
NSHP believes that diversity enriches the educational experience and improves the practice of physics. A richly diverse intellectual and social environment gives us the opportunity to learn from those whose experiences, beliefs, and perspectives are different from our own.
NSHP recognizes that steady gains have been made in the number of women, African-Americans, Hispanic/Latino-Americans, and Native Americans in physics over the past decade. However, these gains have been small. Facing a future in which no group will be a majority in the US, the continued under-representation of any group will have an increasingly harmful effect on the physics profession, on under-represented groups, on society as a whole, and on the economy of the United States.
NSHP believes that increasing diversity in the physics profession can best be achieved by promoting greater participation of people from varying backgrounds while supporting the education, recruitment, retention, and advancement of these groups in physics education and the physics profession.
adopted by the Board of the National Society of Hispanic Physicists, 15 February 2009
Where do the physics societies stand on diversity?
See similar statements from
The Society of Physics Students
The American Association of Physics Teachers
American Astronomical Society
As part of the preparation for the 2010 Decadal Report, the Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy prepared two superbly crafted reports and an Executive Summary on the the Sate of the Profession and positive steps that could be pursued for a more inclusive astronomy profession.
- Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy: Executive Summary
- Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy at the Undergraduate, Graduate, and Postdoctoral Levels (Paper I)
- Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy Through K-12 Education and Public Outreach (Paper II)
- 2003 Resolution, Joint Societies Conference on Diversity
Make diversity a priority in the use of their organizational resources, educate their members about the need to become more involved in promoting diversity, and provide access to resources that will enable their members to work productively on this issue. - Diversity & Inclusion Plan
National Task Force on Undergraduate Physics
Meeting on Diversity in Undergraduate Physics, December 2002
NTFUP brought together leading African American and Hispanic American physicists to discuss the NTFUP findings and how to better incorporate diversity and inclusion on the physics community. One of the conclusions from the meeting’s report reads
Physics faculty members need programs and resources which will allow them to increase their effectiveness in working with all students. In addition to quality research and effective teaching, physicists are now being asked to undertake building a challenging but welcoming community, appropriately mentoring students, and promoting the study of physics not just among students in K-12 but among their families and communities as well. The professional societies should develop the resources and programs (print and electronic materials, workshops and/or sessions at meetings) to allow faculty to undertake these activities effectively.