Women in Physics group holds 40-year reunion Oct. 15

Forty years ago, Cornell’s physics department had no female faculty or postdocs. Of the 150 or so graduate students, only six were women, five of them in their second year. They formed the Women in Physics (WIP) group, still going strong four decades later.

The changes – and similarities – in physics since WIP began will be reflected upon at an anniversary celebration, the Cornell Women in Physics and Related Fields All-Class Reunion, Saturday, Oct. 15. The keynote speaker will be Laura Greene, M.S. ’80, Ph.D. ’84, chief scientist of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, president-elect of the American Physical Society and a founding member of WIP.

Greene says WIP was “really magical. I’m not sure I would have gotten through graduate school without this group. Grad school is really trying and it’s important to have people you can trust and rely on.”

Patti Sparks, M.S. ’78, Ph.D. ’83, a WIP founder, recalls that at every meeting of WIP one member would practice giving a talk while the others practiced asking questions and offering feedback. These meetings helped the women develop important skills, says Sparks: “Even now, a small fraction of the questions at physics meetings are asked by women.”

Says Ritchie Patterson ’81, professor of physics, “WIP organizations can make an enormous difference in inspiring young women to continue in physics, and science obviously benefits enormously from realizing that potential. Society continues to give messages to girls that they’re not as capable and brains are not their thing, so being in a group that’s encouraging can make a difference.”

When Patterson was chair of the physics department, she established a system of faculty mentors for female and minority students, appointing teaching support specialist Jenny Wurster and Julia Thom-Levy, associate professor of physics, as work-life mentors.

“Students need someone they can turn to for advice, or just someone to listen,” she says. As advocates for women students and resources for help and conversation, it was a natural extension of Wurster and Thom-Levy’s duties to support WIP by taking over its organizing functions.

Today WIP has grown beyond graduate students to include female faculty, students and staff from physics, astronomy, applied and engineering physics, biophysics, as well as related fields.

The current incarnation of WIP still hosts lunches during the semester and when there’s a female physics speaker on campus, she’s invited to speak to WIP. Though topics like work-life balance are often discussed, Thom-Levy says WIP conversation is about science in general, and also addresses practical questions like how to find a research group.

A few years ago, undergraduate students felt a need for their own group, says Thom-Levy, so they could be mentored by other undergraduates who could answer questions about courses. The initiative was led by Brenna Mockler ’16.

Kaiwen Zheng ’18, president of the undergraduate WIP, says encountering the group as a sophomore was one of the factors that convinced her to major in physics. It enabled her to meet other women students in physics, gave her a sense of community and “made me feel more comfortable with the major,” she says.

“We have a lot of work to do to raise awareness around inclusivity, but I really think there’s good will,” says Thom-Levy, adding many men at Cornell have been important allies, such as Jeevak Parpia, professor of physics and former chair. “I believe that we are on a trajectory to more diverse science, technology, engineering and mathematics departments at Cornell.”

Other groups at Cornell also support women in STEM fields, such as the Graduate Women in Science Ithaca Chapter and the Society of Women Engineers @ Cornell.

Linda B. Glaser is a staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.

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