APS DPP Gatekeeper Workshop

APS DPP Gatekeeper Workshop: 
Creating a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Pipeline

Call for Abstract Submissions

The American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics is holding a new mini-conference at this year’s annual meeting focusing on increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the national plasma physics pipeline. This mini-conference will focus on how “Gatekeepers” - those responsible for hiring into the workforce and admissions into graduate programs - can enact systemic change. Evidence-based practices with a proven track record are incorporated into this innovative workshop, with sessions designed to share, reimagine and demonstrate effective actions to elevate our Division climate and effectiveness.

Abstracts submissions remain open until August 2! Everyone is encouraged to submit abstracts to the Gatekeeping mini-conference regardless of gatekeeping status. Students, faculty, administrators, industry and laboratory members, managers, directors, researchers, mentors, and mentees - all are encouraged to contribute. 

In keeping with the “actionable change agency” goal of the mini-conference, all presentations will maintain a focus on methods to reduce equity gaps. While personal accounts are a valuable tool for illuminating equity gaps, use of such accounts during this mini-conference should bring focus to a specific topic being addressed in the presentation. These sessions are not a platform to specify or account for grievances; while important and valid, the focus of this mini-conference is on actions to improve the climate and, in turn, actively work to eliminate marginalization in the APS-DPP community. The perspectives of those marginalized are of the most interest in presenting change agency methodologies during the sessions. Emphasis on past, present, or future measurable methodology deployment with historical or recent accounts of impact (successful or not) to address a gatekeeping equity issue(s) are of primary interest. Here equity is defined as empowering everyone with the respect, access, and resources they need to succeed and thrive.  Equity is also a way to measure the effectiveness of our community efforts. Monitoring equity gaps provides a mechanism to evaluate the efficacy of the chosen methods and other community efforts. This Gatekeeping Mini-Conference is a way for these actionable practices to be presented, discussed, and enhanced for use in our community.  

For each abstract submission, please include:

• Title
• Presenter(s), co-authors, and institution(s)
• The Mini-Conference Sorting Category (11.01)
• Short Abstract Narrative (~1300 characters)

• • Specified Equity gap/issue reported on
  • Perceived/expected challenges 
  • Methods or strategies devised to advance equity
  • Outcomes and impacts witnessed/expected 

Please choose from the following categories: 

Admissions & Hiring

• Plasma Physicist Gatekeeping Admission (undergrad/grad) Experiences
• Plasma Physicist Gatekeeping Hiring (national lab, industry, post-undergrad to include grad and post-docs) Experiences

Qualifying Examinations

• Plasma Physicist Qualifying Elimination Experiences

Mentoring

• Effective Mentorship from below (so, being mentored by those that work for you) Experiences
• Effective Mentorship to above (so, mentoring those that you work for) Experiences

Conferences and Beyond

• Plasma Physicist W+IPP, BIPOC, LGBTQIAP+ Statistics gathering and curating Experiences
• Plasma Physicist Climate & Conduct Experiences

The submission deadline is Monday, August 2, 2021, at 5 pm EDT for mini-conference abstracts.  The length limit for submissions is approximately 1300 characters. All participants and speakers are required to register for the DPP Annual Meeting for at least the day(s) of their mini-conference participation, which will incur a cost. Please continue to visit the annual meeting website for registration details. Early registration is scheduled to close on October 12, 2021.