Colloquium: Engineering the CSU Long Beach Physics Program

Speaker: Prof. Galen Pickett, Department of Physics CSU Long Beach

Time: Friday Nov 5th, 2021 2 pm

Place: P-148 or via Zoom: https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/86322942633

Abstract:

California State University Long Beach is a large (37,000 student headcount), commuter (4000 spots in campus housing), regional (one of 5 in the LA basin), comprehensive (generally up to terminal and professional MS degrees) campus in the California State University system. The Department of Physics and Astronomy at CSU Long Beach has engineered systems which took our programs from graduating cohorts in the low-single-digits for both our bachelors and MS degrees (essentially entirely male and Anglo) to our current situation – 40-50 undergraduates earn degrees each year and 20 degrees / year in our MS program, with remarkably enhanced diversity (40% Latino, 30% female) in the student body. I will describe the various changes we made between 2006-present, and describe critical input from the APS in the PhysTEC and Bridge programs, and now in the APS- IDEA network.