Dear AP community,
As you may know, at the request of Dean Brock, the department of Applied Physics put in place a committee to inclusively develop a plan for action and improvement in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The committee met last week with a newly formed working group composed of volunteer students, postdocs, and staff members.
Following this discussion, we invite students, postdocs, and staff in the department to a listening session on Thursday, August 20 at 2pm via Zoom (you should have received the zoom link by email, contact florian.carle@yale.edu if you have not.). We wish to meet with you to listen and learn, and we invite your critiques and suggestions for change. We are hoping for engagement from the entire departmental community in this critical effort.
The listening session will be divided in two parts:
- a 30-minute session for an all department meeting, with presentation of the committee and discussions/questions
- a 60-minute listening sessions in small groups (one group for students, one group for postdocs, and one group for staff members), allowing participants to share their experience and concerns amongst their peers, without concern for speaking in front of your advisor or supervisor. Each group will have a moderator belonging to that group who will be sharing feedback with the committee and the working group. Your comments and advice will help to draft a plan for the AP Department.
If you cannot or prefer not to attend the listening session, but want to share your feedback or have questions, you can contact anyone in the committee or working group:
Committee
- Peter Rakich (faculty)
- Peter Schiffer (faculty)
- Rob Schoelkopf (faculty)
- Florian Carle (staff)
- Benjamin Chapman (postdoc)
- Nathanael Cottet (postdoc)
- Nicholas Frattini (student)
- Nuch Graves (staff)
- Vijay Jain (postdoc)
- Racquel Miller (staff)
- Heather Ong (staff)
- Sean Reinhart (staff)
- Chris Wang (student)
Alternatively, you can use this form on the AP website to share anonymous comments.
Best regards and thank you for your attention to this important matter,
Charles, Rob, Peter R., and Peter S.