National Society of Black Physicists 2021 Conference
Paula Szkody
AAS President
This National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) will host its annual conference entitled "Grand Unification in the Diaspora" on 4-7 November 2021. The NSBP is the largest and most recognizable organization devoted to the African-American physics community. Its membership numbers in excess of one hundred professionals and students. The purpose of NSBP is to promote the professional well-being of African-American physicists within the scientific community and within society at large. The organization seeks to develop and support efforts to increase opportunities for African Americans in physics and to increase their numbers. It also seeks to develop activities and programs that highlight and enhance the benefits of the contributions that African American physicists provide for the world community.
We encourage you to be part of the conference yourself by registering and sending your students to the annual NSBP conference. The science programs are engaging, expansive, and offer opportunities to support young physicists, including opportunities to recruit and network through exhibit booths.
The NSBP annual conference is a unique opportunity for Black students to demonstrate their scholarship, develop their collaborations and networks, and experience being part of a larger community of Black scholars in physics. Too often the low number of Black students in physics and astronomy isolates students, so the NSBP can be a vital source of community for Black students. We ask for your help with publicizing this opportunity to your own students and to the broader astronomy community to ensure awareness of this unique scientific conference.
Traditionally, the NSBP supports the travel and lodging of student presenters through grants, and departments or faculty advisors of students are responsible for a nominal registration fee. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was last year, this year’s conference will be virtual. We want to encourage departments and advisers to continue supporting Black students by continuing to cover registration and membership expenses for these young scholars.
We are always eager to meet and catch up with astronomers and physicists in the NSBP ASTRO session of the NSBP conference. Our ASTRO sessions consistently have a large representation across all academic levels and most subfields of astronomy. The ASTRO sessions typically host 1 or 2 prominent plenary speakers, and nearly every graduate student is able to present a talk on their research. The ASTRO session also awards the American Astronomical Society (AAS) sponsored Beth Brown Memorial Award for outstanding undergraduate and graduate presenters that includes travel, lodging, and registration to a future AAS meeting.
We hope to see you there.
NSBP ASTRO Committee: Greg Mosby (chair), Dara Norman, Samaiyah Farid, Eileen Gonzales, and Jessica Harris
"The AAS CSMA supports the initiative described in this letter. We encourage the astronomy department chairs throughout the nation to support Black astronomy students attending national research conferences, including the annual NSBP conference."
— AAS Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA)
"On behalf of Black In Astro, we're sending our endorsement to encourage more Black astronomy students to gain exposure and community at conferences as this aligns with our core beliefs and values. "
— Ashley L. Walker, Founder and Lead Organizer of Black In Astro