Diversity initiatives at the UNC Department of Physics and Astronomy were highlighted as exemplars in a March 3 Science Magazine article, which was published alongside several stories investigating the underrepresentation of Black physicists. Fix the System, Not the Students draws attention to the innovative approaches of three UNC departmental programs designed to support Black and other minority students: the Computational Astronomy and Physics (CAP) Boot Camp, the Graduate to Undergraduate (G2U) mentoring program, and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Scholars program.
UNC faculty and students featured in the article include:
- Sheila Kannappan, associate chair for diversity and mentoring, founder of the CAP Boot Camp, and G2U faculty advisor.
- Zack Hall, graduate student diversity liaison, founder of the G2U program, DEI Scholar, and former CAP Boot Camp participant.
- Julieta Gruszko, faculty diversity liaison and founder of the DEI Scholars program.
- Derrick Carr, graduate student assistant for the CAP Boot Camp and G2U mentor.
- Nathnael Kahassai, G2U undergraduate mentee.