Physics identity is an essential topic in Physics Education Research (PER). Often this research examines how physics identities form for primarily white, male undergraduate students in calculus-based physics classes at Tier I institutions. Less research in PER has engaged with the experiences of marginalized populations, such as students of color, women, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. There exists a body of work outside of PER that considers the experiences of minoritized populations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Physics students with marginalized identities navigate multiple, often conflicting identities. One theoretical framework that explores how individuals navigate opposing identities and realities is Nepantla. Here we consider how applying the theoretical framework of Nepantla to PER offers additional insight into how individuals from marginalized communities both “play the game” and “change the game." This insight can benefit both individuals and institutions that are part of the physics community.

Prior research has shown that gender identity is a spectrum; however, very few studies have used non-binary gender measures in physics education research. In this study, we employed a 7-point Likert scale to examine students' self-identified femininity/masculinity and their perceptions of how others perceive their femininity/masculinity in introductory physics courses. While correlations were observed between the binary gender measure and the Likert scale femininity/masculinity measure, the latter revealed greater variance in students' gender-related identity, offering the potential for new insights into gender-related issues in physics. For instance, we found that many students in the introductory physics courses perceive themselves as more masculine than they believe others view them. Moreover, women and underrepresented racial minority (URM) students are more likely than men and majority students to hold this perception. Using logistic regression and structural equation modeling, we found that gender stigma consciousness is a significant mediator of the effects of gender and URM status on the discrepancies between self-identified and perceived masculinity. Our findings indicate that the Likert scale femininity/masculinity measure could potentially deepen our understanding of gender-related issues in physics.

The Charles Drew Science Scholars program is a STEM program that enriches a subset of students in the College of Natural Science at Michigan State University. The ultimate goal of the program is to connect students with experiences that will support them in their development as a professional in their chosen career. In this presentation, we discuss the impressive track record that the Charles Drew Science Scholars programs holds with supporting students from minoritized backgrounds in earning a Bachelor’s degree in science. Overall, the program has demonstrated great success through an analysis lens of incoming preparation and graduation rates, especially for those who identify as African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, or Multi-Race. We highlight one element of the program, academic coaching, which directly supports their students through the required courses for completing a Bachelor’s  degree. Through this support structure, we see a difference in students’ overall GPA for these required courses between those who are enrolled in the Charles Drew Science Scholars program and those who are enrolled in the college more broadly. These results suggest that structures such as academic coaching may be a critical element in supporting students’ success toward earning a Bachelor’s degree in science.

In interviews with physics students and early career physicists, we ask about their experiences with having impairments in physics culture and settings. Within this talk, we will highlight how experiences shared by participants as disabled people in physics represent clusters of models of disability. Specifically, we apply a theoretical framing of a three-dimensional disability model space, with axes defined as medical versus social (i.e., cause); tragedy versus affirmative (i.e., effect); and minority group versus universal (i.e., ability/disability dichotomy). For example, in this framework, providing accommodations is described by a cluster of the social and minority models of disability. By analyzing participants' experiences in physics through this disability framework, we aim to identify the models that underpin supportive experiences and support the development of policies and professional development for the physics community towards benefiting disabled people. Through analysis and comparison of these models and participants’ narratives, we offer a discussion and possible guidelines for instructors interacting with students with disabilities as well as opportunities for those with disabilities to deconstruct their own prior experiences.