Advisory Board

Summary comments from the meeting overall:

Contact Diane Gallagher about ideas that she shared:

• "Consider Iowa" initiative could be a resource for the Department
• Can the Corporate Relations Office help with the Hawk-Eyes on Science program?  Possibly team up with Hawkeye AEA and Bio-Science Initiative?
• Include physics research labs in upcoming tours sponsored by this office.

Appoint UG and Grad Student to the board.

Contact high school science teachers and guidance counselors to determine date of state-wide conference.  Explore the possibility of presenting information at these conferences.

Include alumni fact sheets at the UG Open House (highlighting alumni who work in industry).

Explore the possibility of developing a for credit seminar that highlights careers in physics (What Physicists Do).  Tie this into career development seminars.

Reports from Subcommittees

Recruitment, Retention and Placement

Subcommittee - Ken Gayley, Scott Wollenweber, Cheryl Reardon, Michelle Stricker, Brian Strayer

Placement

• Help students broaden their perspective
  Seminar Series (possible careers in physics):
  • Outside Research Partnership - someone who works in a national lab.
  • Corporate Influence - contact with someone in the corporate world.
  • Faculty at other institutions.
• Develop a fact sheet profiling our alumni who work in different types of positions (i.e., industry, academia, national lab, etc.).
• Work with staff at the Career Center - http://www.careers.uiowa.edu/
  • Form a better relationship with Michelle Stricker - Career Center. Support the Career Center goal of students doing more career thinking/planning during sophomore and junior years.
  • Announce to faculty that the Career Center will substitute when they are not able to teach.
  • Explore externship opportunities (job shadowing)
  • Provide more career option exposure to students during counseling.

Recruitment

• Develop marketing material that is more personalized. Include information about career opportunities, possibly having specific examples about Iowa grads. Also include information about financial packages offered to students who want to pursue an advanced degree in physics and/or astronomy.
• Public Relations - market physics as a major and the Department during community outreach activities.
• High School Open House - highlight UG research projects. Provide information about the careers that graduates of the department and their physics peers are pursuing.
• Staff admission visitor days with UG - encourage more peer to peer interaction.
• Market physics and astronomy broadly to cross disciplines (engineering, applied physics, etc.).
• Board members could send follow up letters to prospective students to help with recruiting.

Retention

• Educate undergraduate students about financial packages offered to students who want to pursue an advanced degree in physics and/or astronomy.
• Provide more career counseling early to raise awareness of the many options available to holders of a degree in physics. The seminar series listed under Placement is applicable towards the retention goal.
• This includes raising awareness among all faculty so that examples are shared in the course of teaching as appropriate on an ad hoc basis.

Outreach

Subcommittee - Alan Tribble, Dean Gorrell, Wayne Polyzou, Dale Stille

• Develop consistent message for outreach events - why physics is a good thing. (example - Physics teaches fundamental problem solving skills.)
• Target areas
  • Students
    • Hawk-Eyes on Science, Family Adventures in Science, Open House
  • Parents
    • List of jobs/companies in Iowa that you could work at using a physics degree.
  • High school teachers
    • Message - encouraging your students to go into physics.  Before this can happen, teachers need a better understanding of physics as a discipline.
• Utilize the van roadshows to market the department.

Industrial Relations

Subcommittee - Ted Bahns, Bryant Hichwa, Tom Boggess, Diane Gallagher

• Two prong approach by connecting with Iowa companies and those from out of state.  To be successful, we will need connections with both types of companies.
• Develop capabilities brochure focusing on faculty research areas.
• Update website to include a link to this page.
• Develop a database of all companies in Iowa (focusing on technology) and contact them.  Focus on contacting the decision makers (high enough in the company that they have influence on decisions).  We advertise to them!
• Appoint a board member who is in one of these companies.  Help to create a more balanced membership.

Two models

1. Industrial associates - more applicable to Departments in the College of Engineering.
2. Representatives from companies that contact the University for help in solving a problem.  Through these contacts, build person-to-person relationship.  The Committee felt that this approach worked the best for physics.

Question that needs to be answered - will faculty buy into this concept?

• Time will be the indicator if faculty will see this as beneficial to them.
• Benefit to the Department vs. benefit to faculty