Mary James (scientist)

Last updated
Mary James
Alma mater Hampshire College (BA)
Stanford University (PhD)
Scientific career
Institutions Reed College
University of Maryland, College Park
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Thesis Production of high intensity electron bunches for the SLAC Linear Collider  (1987)

Mary B. James is an American physicist and educator. She is the Dean for Institutional Diversity and the A. A. Knowlton Professor of Physics at Reed College. James specializes in particle physics and accelerators.

Contents

Early life and education

James' father was one of the Tuskegee Airmen. [1] She earned a bachelor's in physics at Hampshire College in 1976. She completed a PhD in accelerator physics at Stanford University in 1986. [2] She worked at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, designing high current electron injectors for the linear collider. [3] She studied the longitudinal bunching of transrelativistic electron beams in high space charge forces and longitudinal wake fields. [2] At SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory she also contributed to the polarized electron injector (PEGGY). [2]

Research and career

In 1987 James joined University of Maryland, College Park as an assistant professor in electrical engineering. [2] Soon thereafter she moved to Portland, Oregon, to join the faculty of the department of physics at Reed College, where she has been a faculty member since in 1988. At Reed, James has taught broadly across the physics curriculum. [4]

James has been an advocate for women and minority students throughout her career. [3] [5] [6] [7] In 2013 James was announced as Dean for Institutional Diversity at Reed College. [8] [9] She is on the leadership team of the Liberal Arts Diversity Officers consortium. [10] The consortium looks at how faculty can navigate incidents of bias, and develops ways to change the structure and allow them to thrive. [11] She has served as a member and chair for the American Physical Society committee on Minorities in Physics. [12]

She established Reed College's Center for Teaching and Learning, which looks to attract and retain women, first generation students and people of colour in STEM majors. [13] She is concerned that underrepresented minority students feel isolated on campus, and that faculty of colour invest time in mentoring for minority students which distract from the tenure process. [11] When classes at Reed College were cancelled due to student protests over a curriculum that was "too white, male and Eurocentric", Reed appeared on public radio and national media emphasising the need for inclusive pedagogy. [14] [15] As a teacher, she creates an active learning environment which makes students recognise physics does not only need straight A students. [16]

Working with the American Institute of Physics she launched TEAM UP in April 2018, a Task Force to Elevate African American Representation in Undergraduate Physics & Astronomy. [17] [18] The program involved a survey, site visits and evidence-based recommendations with pilot schools. [18] The report from the Task Force appeared in Spring 2020 and identifies a number of the factors responsible for the success of African American students in physics and astronomy along with research-based recommendations for faculty and institutions to increase the representation of African Americans in these fields. [19]

Recognition

James was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2021, after a nomination from the APS Forum on Physics and Society, "for outstanding contributions to improving access, inclusion, equity, and mentorship in physics, including as co-chair of the TEAM-UP Task Force, speaking at CUWiP conferences, and as Dean for Institutional Diversity at Reed College". [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Physical Society</span> Organization of physicists

The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of knowledge of physics. The society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the prestigious Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than twenty science meetings each year. APS is a member society of the American Institute of Physics. Since January 2021 the organization has been led by chief executive officer Jonathan Bagger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burton Richter</span> American physicist

Burton Richter was an American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) team led by Samuel Ting for which they won Nobel Prize for Physics in 1976. This discovery was part of the November Revolution of particle physics. He was the SLAC director from 1984 to 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Drell</span> American physicist

Sidney David Drell was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persis Drell</span> American physicist and academic administrator

Persis S. Drell is an American physicist best known for her expertise in the field of particle physics. She was the director of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from 2007 to 2012. She was dean of the Stanford University School of Engineering from 2014 until 2017. Drell was the Provost of Stanford University from February 1, 2017 until 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Quinn</span> Australian-American physicist

Helen Rhoda Arnold Quinn is an Australian-born particle physicist and educator who has made major contributions to both fields. Her contributions to theoretical physics include the Peccei–Quinn theory which implies a corresponding symmetry of nature and contributions to the search for a unified theory for the three types of particle interactions. As Chair of the Board on Science Education of the National Academy of Sciences, Quinn led the effort that produced A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas—the basis for the Next Generation Science Standards adopted by many states. Her honours include the Dirac Medal of the International Center for Theoretical Physics, the Oskar Klein Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, appointment as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia, the J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics from the American Physical Society, the Karl Taylor Compton Medal for Leadership in Physics from the American Institute of Physics, and the 2018 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics from the Franklin Institute.

Noemie Benczer Koller is a nuclear physicist. She was the first tenured female professor of Rutgers College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard E. Taylor</span> Canadian physicist (1929-2018)

Richard Edward Taylor,, was a Canadian physicist and Stanford University professor. He shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics with Jerome Friedman and Henry Kendall "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics."

Charles Young Prescott is an American particle physicist.

Vera G. Lüth is an experimental particle physicist and professor emerita at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Stanford University, in the United States. A senator of the Helmholtz Association, she has worked in particle physics at SLAC since 1974. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heidi Schellman</span> American physicist

Heidi Marie Schellman is an American particle physicist at Oregon State University (OSU), where she heads the Department of Physics. She is an expert in Quantum chromodynamics.

Elizabeth H. Simmons is an American theoretical physicist, and executive vice chancellor at University of California, San Diego. Formerly, she was a distinguished professor of physics at Michigan State University, the dean of Lyman Briggs College, and the associate provost for faculty and academic staff development. She has also held positions at Harvard University and Boston University. Simmons is married to fellow physicist, R. Sekhar Chivukula. Together they have two children.

Elena Amanda Long is assistant professor of physics at the University of New Hampshire and is an activist for LGBT people in science. The journal Nature called her a "diversity trailblazer" in their Nature's 10: Ten people who mattered this year in 2016. Long's research on the internal structure of nucleons earned her a 2015 Jefferson Science Associates (JSA) Promising Young Scientist award. Long has made significant contributions to improve the inclusion of under-represented researchers and students by founding the LGBT+ Physics organisation and serving as a member of the American Physical Society (APS) Committee of LGBT Issues.

Natalia Toro is an American particle physicist known for her pioneering work in the study of dark matter. Based at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Toro was the youngest winner of the Intel Science Talent Search and was awarded the 2015 New Horizons in Physics Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sekazi Mtingwa</span> American theoretical high-energy physicist (born 1949)

Sekazi Kauze Mtingwa: is an American theoretical high-energy physicist. He is a co-recipient of the 2017 Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators. He is the first African-American to be awarded the prize. Mtingwa was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2008 for "his definitive treatment of Intrabeam scattering, his contributions to the wakefield acceleration, and his early recognition of the fixed target physics potential of the next generation electron-positron collider." He also co-founded the National Society of Black Physicists in 1977 and served in various other national and international initiatives.

Natalie Ann Roe is an experimental particle physicist and observational cosmologist, and the Associate Laboratory Director for the Physical Sciences Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) since 2020. Previously, she was the Physics Division Director for eight years. She has been awarded as the Fellow of American Physical Society (APS) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her exceptional scientific career and contributions.

Nikolitsa (Lia) Merminga is a Greek-born accelerator physicist. In 2022, she was appointed director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the first woman to hold the position. She has worked at other national laboratories in Canada and the United States.

Elizabeth Urey Baranger was an American physicist and academic administrator at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research concerned shell model calculations in nuclear physics.

Patricia Rankin is a British high energy physicist, equity researcher and Chair of the Department at the Arizona State University. Her research considers high energy particle physics and gender balance in scientific disciplines. She was previously responsible for the high energy physics section of the National Science Foundation.

Calvin Rudolph Howell is an American physicist and professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

References

  1. ↑ "A triumph of hope over despair". OregonLive.com. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Mary James - Physics - Reed College - Portland, OR". www.reed.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  3. 1 2 College of Science - Oregon State University (2016-01-21), What does access really mean? , retrieved 2018-05-13
  4. ↑ "Mary James CV". www.reed.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  5. ↑ "Mary James Visits OSU - Physicists for Inclusion in Science". Physicists for Inclusion in Science. 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  6. ↑ "Professor contributes to nationwide university diversity initiatives". FIU News. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  7. ↑ "WCL Breakfast: Be Part of the Solution–Our Differences Add Up to Greatness". WOMEN'S CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  8. ↑ "Liberal Arts Diversity Officers: Faculty Recruitment to Enhance Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges | Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education". vpge.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  9. ↑ College, Reed. "Reed Appoints Mary James as Dean for Institutional Diversity". Reed College News Center. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  10. ↑ "Liberal Arts Diversity Officers [LADO] | A site and community forum for LADO, hosted by Middlebury College". liberalartsdiversity.org. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  11. 1 2 Education, Liberal (2017-05-25). ""Someone Who Looks Like Me": Promoting the Success of Students of Color by Promoting the Success of Faculty of Color". Association of American Colleges & Universities. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  12. ↑ "TEAM-UP Task Force Members". 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  13. ↑ "2016 REU Physics Site Director Workshop Speakers". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  14. ↑ "A Courageous Experiment". The Grail at Reed College. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  15. ↑ "Teaching Diversity At Reed | Think Out Loud | WNYC". WNYC. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  16. ↑ "Guest: What keeps girls from studying physics and STEM". The Seattle Times. 2014-09-14. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  17. ↑ "Task Force to Elevate the Representation of African Americans in Undergraduate Physics & Astronomy (TEAM-UP)" (PDF). National Society of Black Physicists . 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  18. 1 2 "TEAM-UP Task Force". 2018-02-02. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  19. ↑ The Time is Now: Systemic Changes to Increase African Americans with Bachelor's Degrees in Physics and Astronomy (PDF). American Institute of Physics. 2020. ISBN   978-1-7343469-0-9.
  20. ↑ "Fellows nominated in 2021 by the Forum on Physics and Society". APS Fellows archive. American Physical Society. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.