APS-IDEA FAQs

Who is eligible to apply to the APS-IDEA network?
Organizations, individuals, or collaborations whose mission is similar to APS-IDEA, and who are interested in aligning efforts as partners in a social movement.

How can I engage with the APS-IDEA network?
Currently, there are several different ways of engaging with the APS-IDEA network:

• Teams from physics departments, laboratories, and collaborations of at least 20 physicists can join the APS-IDEA mailing list, participate in the APS-IDEA online-learning community, send representatives to the virtual and in-person network workshops, and access consultants affiliated with the project.
• Partner Organizations can join the APS-IDEA mailing list, share information about their projects at APS-IDEA events, present work at APS-IDEA workshops, participate and lead discussions within the APS-IDEA online learning community.
• Individuals can join the APS-IDEA mailing list and participate in the APS-IDEA online learning community.

Can international teams apply to the APS-IDEA network?
Applications to join the APS-IDEA network are currently closed. Once application submissions reopen, teams based inside and outside the United States are welcome to apply to the network!

Can multiple teams from the same organization apply to the APS-IDEA Network?
APS-IDEA seeks to foster collaboration within and across physics organizations. We encourage similarly aligned projects from the same organization to submit a joint team application.

Is there an upper or lower limit to the number of participants on a team?
We do not prescribe a set number of members for a team, but find that many effective teams have at least 5 members. The actual number that will work for your team is up to you and depends on your organizational context.

How does the APS-IDEA project define a team?
We define a team as individuals working towards a shared goal: advancing EDI in their organization through participation in APS-IDEA. Team members should span the constituencies who will be affected by the proposed changes, taking care to share leadership with faculty, staff, students, postdocs.

Who should be on a team?
APS-IDEA strongly encourages shared leadership: the team should include representation from the relevant groups affected by EDI. In an academic setting, this includes students (both undergraduate and graduate), postdocs, and staff, as well as faculty.

Can student-only teams join APS-IDEA?
We encourage students to reach out to other members of their department to form a team. Successful teams often include a representative from most departmental groups, including students (undergrad and grad), staff, junior and senior faculty. In addition, teams will need a letter of support from department/lab/collaboration leadership (e.g. chair, department head, etc).

Can individuals join the APS-IDEA network?
All project activities, including the Online Learning Communities and virtual workshops are currently limited to APS-IDEA teams. We will be sharing resources via the project mailing list and online learning community first, so they are excellent ways to access resources and stay up to date with the project.

How many team members should plan to attend the APS-IDEA Team Workshops?
Each team should select at least two members to represent the team at each virtual workshop. APS-IDEA encourages teams not to send the same members to each meeting, and instead to rotate attendance so that different team members can benefit from participation.

If you have any questions, please contact idea@aps.org.