Top science research jobs lack diversity. A California college program aims to curb that

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Published: July 2, 2026
Publication: CalMatters
Author: Brittany Oceguera

For Tré Willingham, pursuing a doctorate degree at UC Irvine has felt isolating at times. Often the only Black student in his science classes, he recalls being the last one to be chosen when activities required a lab partner. He also has never had a Black professor.

“It’s very disheartening to never see anyone that looks like you,” said Willingham, who studies applied physics. “It makes it hard to believe that you can get there, and especially get there and actually be yourself.”

For Willingham and students like him, the state-funded Cal-Bridge program is helping them pursue their dreams of landing a doctorate in the sciences and joining the next generation of STEM professors. The program provides financial support, research opportunities and diverse mentors of similar backgrounds.

Such mentors make “it much easier to start to navigate these spaces and also believe that you can get to the other end,” Willingham said.

Cal-Bridge was founded in 2014 to help undergraduates at Cal State campuses pursue a doctorate in STEM in partnership with the University of California, helping to close the diversity gap in science fields. About 70% of the program’s 406 students have been admitted to doctorate programs. Three quarters of the program’s students are of color, almost half are women, and nearly two-thirds are first generation.

Studies have noted that the climate of STEM higher education programs is often unwelcoming for some minority populations. Women make up over half of the undergraduate student population at Cal State campuses, yet account for only 36% of the system’s STEM students. At UC campuses, only 24% of STEM undergraduates are Latino or Hispanic, 4% are African American and 1% are American Indian.

From Cal-Bridge’s first cohort of five undergraduate students, the program has grown to support about 60 each year. It has expanded from astronomy and physics to now include computer science and math. Students in the program can receive stipends, tuition assistance, mentorship and professional development.

But the journey to diversifying the STEM teaching field is very long.

The University of California, Irvine, on June 15, 2026. Photo by Ariana Drehsler for CalMatters

So far, 15 Cal-Bridge participants have earned a doctorate. It takes students about eight years after joining Cal-Bridge, usually done during their junior year, to complete a doctorate — two years as an undergraduate and six years to complete their doctorate education.

“It’s only been 12 years since we started, so only this small group is getting their Ph.D. right now,” said Dr. Alexander Rudolph, Cal-Bridge’s executive director and founder. “But eventually we expect there to be more like 30 to 40 to 50 a year getting their Ph.Ds.”

The state Legislature has given $14 million over recent years to the program, which also has a sliver left over from an older National Science Foundation grant.

The program might also get a helpful boost in the Legislature as California pushes back against federal efforts targeting university equity initiatives.

Democratic Assemblymember David Alvarez of Chula Vista introduced Assembly Bill 2660 in April to codify Cal-Bridge as a coordinated partnership between community colleges, Cal State universities and University of California campuses. Rudolph hopes that will help secure annual or multi-year funding for Cal-Bridge in lieu of making requests each year.

Alvarez told CalMatters that as the federal administration cut back on student loans and grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, California should do more to support its students.

“The lack of representation from first-generation students in the Ph.D. level of education speaks for itself,” said Alvarez. “We need to do something in California to demonstrate that we still believe that we have strength in diversity of our Ph.Ds, of our academia, and this (Assembly bill) is one way to try.”

Financial assistance allows students to prioritize academics

Willingham, the UC Irvine student, hadn’t considered pursuing a doctorate earlier in his life. Now 31, the first-generation scholar is pursuing his doctorate with the goal of one day becoming a professor.

“No one around me was a doctor of anything,” said Willingham about his family and friends growing up.

Willingham grew up in Littleton, Colorado where he attended Columbine High School. After high school, his father, who had served in the Air Force, and Willingham moved to Atlanta. In 2017, he moved to California where he began his higher education journey. He is now the father of two children, ages 12 and two, balancing family time with his studies.

Today, Willingham’s research focuses on creating new quantum materials and exploring how they could be used in future sensors and electronic devices.

Tré Willingham works inside a lab in Rowland Hall at UC Irvine on June 15, 2026. Photos by Ariana Drehsler for CalMatters

Cal-Bridge has four programs: undergraduate, summer research, doctoral and postdoctoral. The undergraduate program is open to STEM students at Cal State campuses and community college students who plan to transfer to a Cal State. It receives up to 100 applications per year; about 60 students were accepted this past year.

Willingham attended El Camino College and Compton College simultaneously to finish his associate degree quickly, then joined Cal-Bridge’s undergraduate program after transferring to Cal Poly Pomona. There, the program gave him $10,000 during each of his junior and senior years, which helped him get a car to commute to school from Los Angeles and stay focused by working fewer hours as a tutor.

“I was able to just sort of focus my attention a little better, not having to always think about how I’m going to pay the next bill,” said Willingham.

Later in Cal-Bridge’s doctoral program, Willingham received $40,000 in financial support for his first year of graduate school at UC Irvine. He used $16,000 to pay his tuition and the rest for living expenses.

Mentorship helps students find their place in STEM

It took Dr. Katy Rodriguez Wimberly, a Cal-Bridge alum, 13 years to become a research faculty member. She is now an astrophysics assistant professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

Wimberly researches near-field cosmology, studying neighboring galaxies that may be some of the first ever formed.

“It’s almost like galactic archaeology, like I’m looking at these little almost-fossil galaxies to learn more about the early universe and where everything came from,” said Wimberly.

She is also now the director of mentorship for Cal-Bridge. During her junior year as an undergraduate, she joined Cal-Bridge’s first cohort, helping her imagine what being an astronomer would be like.

The mentors and the program’s monthly workshops showed her that while she didn’t see many Latina women like her teaching STEM on her campus, she could do it. When she was an undergraduate at Cal State Long Beach, she said, there were only two women professors from about 20 faculty in her department, and none of them Black or Latino.

Cal-Bridge provided Latino mentors she wasn’t finding anywhere else.

“It wasn’t like they were teaching me in a classroom, but they did kind of provide that cultural and kind of identity support,” said Wimberly.

Wimberly had applied to 11 doctorate programs as a senior undergraduate and was denied by all of them. Next, she applied and was accepted to Cal State Long Beach to pursue a master’s in physics. There, she raised her GPA, reapplied to doctorate programs and was accepted to UC Irvine. She graduated in 2021 with her doctorate in physics.

At UC Irvine, Wimberly created a peer mentorship program for Cal-Bridge students as a way for alumni and graduate students of the program to support the undergraduate students. Mentors and mentees meet in small groups once a month, as well as have one-on-one meetings.

“I structured it in a way to be more like, this is just your older cousin that’s telling you how to get through things,” Wimberly said.

After she finished her doctorate, she had a three-year, full-time fellowship with the National Science Foundation. She served at UC Riverside with her former mentor, Laura Sales, an astronomer from Argentina and associate professor at the university.

Learning from Sales made her feel more comfortable embracing her identity as a Latina. Sales taught her that she didn’t have to be an expert in all areas of astronomy, but that she would work alongside experts in different areas.

Now as a professor herself for the last three years at Cal State San Bernardino, Wimberly offers the same mentorship to her students. Anytime she sees a Latina student who doesn’t have support from someone with a similar background, she tries to provide that support.

“Just because I know it can be so difficult,” said Wimberly.

Claire Rogers, a student at UC Irvine pursuing a doctorate in physics, knew she wanted to attend graduate school, but she didn’t realize how isolating the experience would be as the only woman in the room. She is a Cal-Bridge doctorate scholar researching observational astrophysics, looking for planets outside of the solar system to determine if there is life on those planets. She also focuses on how stellar astrophysics affects measurements when looking for planets.

Claire Rogers, a Cal-Bridge doctorate scholar, at Frederick Reines Hall at UC Irvine, on June 15, 2026. Rogers is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics. Photo by Ariana Drehsler for CalMatters

Rogers was an undergraduate at Cal Poly Humboldt and joined Cal-Bridge during the first year the program expanded to her campus.

“Cal-Bridge was really helpful for providing a network of students at the same phase of their career at different CSU campuses but still working towards similar goals,” said Rogers.

She said that since the department on her campus was small, Cal-Bridge allowed her to connect with students at other campuses who were in similar positions.

The program provided her two mentors, a professor at her campus and a professor at UC Berkeley. The program also offered her guidance in applying for graduate school.

“I’m sure it made a huge difference in my grad school essays, getting that feedback,” Rogers said.

Rogers participated in an undergraduate summer research program at the University of Wyoming through Cal-Bridge, where she dabbled in astrophysics research for the first time. Cal-Bridge’s summer program is open to community college and Cal State undergraduate students and allows students to participate in research projects at partner institutions. Out of around 200 applications, only 50 to 60 students get accepted to the summer program.

“I really like spending time at a telescope … and dealing with all of the problems that come up when you are running a telescope overnight,” she said.

She was usually the only woman in her undergraduate classes, and in graduate school there were only three women in her cohort of 22 students.

“I got very accustomed to being the only woman in a room,” said Rogers.

She mentioned feeling isolated during her first year at UC Irvine, noticing that her classmates rarely showed up when she organized study groups and that the men in her lab would change the conversation when she entered the room.

“I had a really hard time my first year with reconciling that I felt very unwelcome,” said Rogers.

She eventually found a support network outside of her original cohort, getting closer to other doctoral scholars in Cal-Bridge and having monthly movie nights together.

“Cal-Bridge has made a huge difference to my career and my, sort of, finding my space in this field,” said Rogers.

Rogers hopes to one day become a professor and be able to teach while continuing her research in observational astrophysics.

“When I was new to physics it made a big difference for me to have women professors,” said Rogers. “I think it’s important for future students to also have that resource and that support, and I would like to be able to provide that.”

Brittany Oceguera is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

The STEM Pathway

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Published: June 22, 2026
Publication: Haverford Magazine
Author: Sari Harrar

Tré Willingham, a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine, builds one-atom-thick structures to observe the mysterious behavior of electrons. In 2025, he won a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship to support his work. “The award gives me the freedom to conduct bold, high-impact quantum materials research,” he says.

But just a few years ago, advancing in science looked like a rocky climb despite Willingham’s passion and persistence.

“I was in a tough situation,” he says. While in community college, he experienced homelessness, sometimes sleeping in his car and skipping meals when money was tight. He and his partner were raising a daughter, and by 2024, expecting the birth of their son. When his car blew a gasket, he commuted 2.5 hours each way by bus to junior- and senior-year classes at California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly Pomona). During these years, Willingham was chief engineer for a club at Compton College (a Los Angeles-area community college) that built a functioning rocket from surplus aerospace parts, became captivated by the “elegance and beauty” of applied mathematics, and was a busy math and science tutor.

“I was ambitious,” he says. “I wanted a career in physics but didn’t know how to pursue it.” Then a friend — Cal-Bridge scholar Evan Haze Nuñez-Cravin, now a post-doctoral fellow in astrophysics at the University of California, Los Angeles — suggested Willingham apply to the Cal-Bridge program. Founded by Alexander Rudolph ’82, the innovative program prepares undergraduates from historically underrepresented groups to be competitive candidates for Ph.D. programs in science, engineering, and math within the University of California system and elsewhere, then supports them through earning Ph.D.s and beyond.

“I think that anyone who takes advantage of Cal-Bridge can achieve their dreams,” Willingham says. “Anything can happen.”

Bruce Schumm ’81, a professor of physics at University of California, Santa Cruz, and the director of Cal-Bridge’s Doctoral Program, at a summer research program in 2025. Photo courtesy of Cal-Bridge Program.

Building STEM Diversity
A professor of physics and astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona, Rudolph studies star formation and the structure of galaxies. His interest in promoting diversity in academics dates back to his upbringing and his time at Haverford.

“Growing up in the diverse neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago, I was instilled with a social justice mindset,” he says. “One of the attractions of Haverford College for me was the Quaker history and similar focus on social justice.” While at Haverford, he participated in a program called Eighth Dimension (now the Marilou Allen Office of Service and Community Collaboration) where he tutored a diverse group of Philadelphia elementary school students in math.

Rudolph says the glaring lack of underrepresented minority and female students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields became even more obvious when he began teaching in California’s public higher education system. In a state where no racial or ethnic group is the majority and women outnumber men, STEM undergrad majors were predominantly white men. As a result, few grad students, professors, and people moving into skilled tech jobs were Black, Latino, Indigenous American, or women.

“It’s a long-standing, well-known issue that science in general, and the physical sciences in particular, are just not diverse at all,” Rudolph says.

The numbers are stark. Across the U.S., just 2,664 Black candidates, 2,817 Hispanic candidates, 106 Native American candidates, and 40 Pacific Islander candidates were awarded doctoral degrees in STEM fields in 2021 compared to 19,409 white candidates, according to a 2023 NSF report. In California, women and people of color start college as STEM majors as often as white men do, but 70% leave those majors by junior year — “in large part due to a lack of faculty that look like them,” according to Cal-Bridge. Classrooms with few professors or fellow students from underrepresented groups can impose negative stereotypes about intellect and academic performance, boost anxiety, sap confidence, and hasten the flight from STEM, says a 2024 University of California, Irvine paper in the Journal for STEM Education Research. Just 15% of the 1.5 million workers in the state’s burgeoning tech industry are Black or Hispanic, and just 26% are women, the group says.

With few advancing to teaching, research, and leadership roles, the optics for undergraduates in these groups are not encouraging, Rudolph says. “When there aren’t many or any people like you, you wonder whether you’re welcome and whether you can make it,” he says. “Then there’s what we call the ‘hidden curriculum.’ Plenty of students from underrepresented groups are the first generation in their families to go to college. They may have plenty of support, but they lack practical knowledge about how you go from undergraduate degrees to graduate programs. There have been various decades-long efforts to address this inequality, with not a whole lot of progress.”

Bridge to the Future 
In 2009, Rudolph used an NSF grant to send a group of Cal Poly Pomona undergrads to a summer research program at the University of Arizona. “Summer research is critical for going on to graduate school,” he notes. Students learn how to do research, find out whether they like doing it, and get a sense of where they’d like to focus. “There were many summer research programs out there, but not a lot that were really catering specifically to diverse populations,” he says.

The program grew over the next few years to include more schools. “Then, after about four years, somebody asked me, ‘So what happens after that? How do they get into grad school?'” Rudolph recalls.

The question prompted him to look at existing bridge programs around the U.S. that support underrepresented students preparing for STEM Ph.D. programs. These include summer research opportunities for undergraduates, seminars, and faculty mentoring as well as support for grad school applications (like advice on coursework, research, and grad school application essays). Some created pathways between institutions — like the successful, 22-year-old Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program that brings promising students into STEM master’s programs at Fisk University (one of the nation’s first historically Black colleges and universities), after which they apply to Vanderbilt University’s Ph.D. programs. Bridges have been around since the 1990s or even earlier; they aim to increase diversity in graduate programs not only in STEM fields but also in the social sciences and humanities.

With faculty colleagues, Rudolph came up with a plan that melded best practices from the most successful programs. “We picked the last two undergraduate years as the target, thinking that’s when students really start thinking about what comes next,” he says. “We put together a package of support — summer research, intensive mentoring, professional development workshops, and financial aid — and got an NSF grant.” Thus, Cal-Bridge was born.

The program now provides up to $15,000 (up from $10,000) in annual financial support to undergrads and, in recent years, a $40,000 fellowship award to Cal-Bridge undergraduates who go on to become Ph.D. students at University of California schools. (Scholars who choose private or out-of-state Ph.D. programs don’t get this last perk.) Participants stay in the program for up to nine or 10 years: two years as undergrads, typically five to six years as doctoral students earning a Ph.D., and then some move into Cal-Bridge-associated post-doc programs. It’s an important and intentional differentiator compared to other programs that intervene for a shorter period of time.

The need was clear. You don’t have to look at numbers to see that across the University of California system, campuses and STEM majors don’t reflect our state’s diverse population. – Bruce Schumm ’81

In 2014, Cal-Bridge’s first cohort of scholars began its journey. The program is for undergraduates enrolled in the California State University (CSU) system, one of the three levels of the California higher education system. Many start out in the state’s network of community colleges, as Willingham did. “California is uniquely well-positioned to have a program like this,” Rudolph says. “We have 116 community colleges, 23 California state universities, and 10 University of California campuses, and we have a large and very diverse student population.”

Rudolph visited campuses across California to promote Cal-Bridge. On a trip to Northern California he reconnected with Bruce Schumm ’81, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Rudolph and Schumm were friends at Haverford and later at the University of Chicago, where they both earned their Ph.D.s. The timing was perfect. Schumm and other faculty at University of California, Santa Cruz had been discussing ways to support STEM diversity.

“The need was clear,” says Schumm, now director of the Cal-Bridge Doctoral Program. “You don’t have to look at numbers to see that across the University of California system, campuses and STEM majors don’t reflect our state’s diverse population. When Alex came up here, there was a network ready to provide coherent and rigorous support for scholars from backgrounds not traditionally represented in higher education.”

From Disneyland to the Stars 
Among the first Cal-Bridge scholars was Katy Rodriguez Wimberly. Now an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at California State University, San Bernardino, Wimberly got her Ph.D. at University of California, Irvine, where she focused on ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, tiny, old relics from the beginnings of the universe. She’d loved math in high school, but pursued acting and music in community college and afterward, playing saxophone in an Army Reserve band and entertaining visitors at Disneyland. “In my mid-20s I was binge-watching Star Trek: Voyager shows on DVD when I realized astronomy could be a real job,” she says. “I applied to California State University, Long Beach, to finish my undergraduate degree. I had to apply several times and take more community college courses to get in.”

Wimberly realized she enjoyed research and outreach. “I didn’t have the steps all chiseled out, but I knew I wanted to be a professor,” she says. “My academic advisor told me about Cal-Bridge. I was 29, almost 30 years old.”

Like all Cal-Bridge scholars, Wimberly had two mentors as an undergraduate, one from her own school and one from a University of California doctoral program. She met with them about every two weeks. “My mentor from CSU Long Beach helped more with academics: what classes to take, how to understand the content at a more fundamental level,” says Wimberly, who now oversees Cal-Bridge’s more than 300 mentors (including herself) as director of the Cal-Bridge mentoring program. “My UC Irvine mentor helped more with ideas about my future. They both helped me get ready to apply to doctoral programs. I didn’t get into a grad program the first time I applied. My mentors were very encouraging. You see the reality of their paths. It’s easy to imagine that a university professor had a bright, shiny, smooth route to their job. My mentors would tell me about the times they tripped up and the times they struggled.”

Gabrielle Kaitlyn Lake, a computer science Ph.D. candidate at University of California, Irvine, has benefitted from Cal-Bridge’s support system. Photo by Lauren Justice.

Uniquely Successful 
Even among Cal-Bridge’s many success stories, Wimberly and Willingham stand out. In 2023, Wimberly became a tenure-track faculty member at CSU San Bernardino, one of two Cal-Bridge scholars in the program long enough to reach this goal — and, Rudolph and Schumm say, an illustration of the benefits of the program’s ongoing support. Willingham is one of 18 Cal-Bridge scholars awarded selective NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. He hopes to establish a laboratory in the future to further study quantum materials. His Ph.D. fellowship enabled him to focus on research and classwork in his first year of grad school. He says he hopes the NSF award “shows what’s possible and encourages more young Black men to imagine themselves as future scientists.”

In the past 12 years, 406 students have participated in Cal-Bridge. From the initial five-scholar Cal-Bridge cohort in 2014, the program has grown to induct about 60 new scholars per year. Over 90% complete their undergraduate degrees, and so far, 174 have entered Ph.D. programs. About 70% who apply to Ph.D. programs are accepted on the first try. Fifteen have their Ph.D.s and are now in tech jobs, teach, or have moved into post-doctoral research.

It’s a diverse group in every sense. Two-thirds of Cal-Bridge participants are students of color, 45% are women, 23% are LGBTQIA+, and 21% are people with disabilities. Sixty percent are first-generation college students. Rudolph and Schumm say Cal-Bridge stands out among bridge programs because of its size, high rate of progression into grad programs, and ongoing support that actually extends into scholars’ professional lives through summer meetings, networking, and continuing attention from mentors.

“Cal-Bridge engages these students early enough in their career that they have many, many years of encouragement and support,” Schumm notes. It’s also grown a community of participants who support each other and are the foundation of a lifelong professional and friendship network.

“It’s one of the most successful programs I know of,” says Gibor Basri, professor emeritus of astronomy and founding vice chancellor for equity and inclusion at University of California, Berkeley. “The program spans nine or 10 years from undergraduate through Ph.D. and post-doctoral research. Most others operate at one point in a student’s career and hope they’ll find support later on. But the main thing is the intense mentoring.”

Basri, who’s been a Cal-Bridge mentor, says it’s “qualitatively different” from other mentoring and bridge programs. “We see students frequently. You hear what’s going on in their life, not just in class. We can address all kinds of barriers to success that normal mentoring doesn’t catch, like a sick parent who needs help, a lost financial aid form,” Basri says. “Mentors may also have their students in class. We see how they’re performing. We don’t beat them up over grades or homework. We work on solutions.”

The approach, he says, is especially important in a time of cuts in research funding and closures of academic DEI programs. “I’ve seen diversity in STEM programs expanding the way we think about education, training, the culture of a department,” Basri says. “It’s important for students to see people like themselves in leadership roles. I don’t know that there’s a Black perspective on stellar magnetic fields, but diversity and a variety of views are always a good thing.”

Roberto Tejada Arevalo, a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University, says Cal-Bridge’s support during his undergraduate years at CSU Los Angeles allowed him to work fewer hours at his outside jobs — including as a guide at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles — and focus more on classes. “My mentors kept me on track and organized to apply to grad schools,” he says. Tejada Arevalo expects to receive his Ph.D. this spring and will become a joint Cal-Bridge/University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California, Santa Cruz pursuing his research characterizing the interiors of gas giant planets.

In addition to summer research, he says getting to know other Cal-Bridge scholars who were in doctoral programs was important. “You’re not alone doing this,” he says. “Guidance from other scholars and my mentors made a big difference. Someone from an underrepresented minority group background may want to go to grad school and continue in science or engineering or math, but they need to figure out the academic pathway, and it’s not easy on your own.”

According to Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University and founding director of the acclaimed Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, Cal-Bridge works because “the program has always had a structure that is grounded in research, evidence, and best practice, for example, by incorporating successful elements from other model programs.”

Stassun notes that bridge programs can bring “the missing millions” of Americans into the nation’s STEM talent pathway. “For our nation to remain in a global leadership role for science and technology, we will need to more fully draw upon the best and brightest across all of American society, backgrounds, walks of life, and perspectives,” he says.

In the case of Gabrielle Kaitlyn Lake, a Ph.D. student in computer science at University of California, Irvine, Cal-Bridge has inspired her to support diversity and inclusion wherever she can. “As an undergrad, I was one of just two Black women in my computer science classes,” she remembers. “Now I’m a teaching assistant and hopefully someday will be a professor. I try to build community by being available to the students, by making sure everyone understands the material whether they’re a computer science major or not.” And she sees the value of diversity in her current work developing security features for computer screen readers used by people with low vision and blindness. “You can’t just use the experiences of one group of people and apply them to everyone,” she says. “The best solutions will come from the experiences of a wide variety of users.”

Cal-Bridge outgrew NSF funding (“after a while, the NSF wants to see stakeholders supporting programs,” Rudolph says) and now relies on appropriations from California’s state legislature. “We received about $11.5 million from the NSF over our first 10 years,” Rudolph says. “Now, we’ve gotten $14 million in state funding over the past four years. We have support in the legislature. We hope it continues and grows.” Funding increases, he says, would allow the program to expand into more STEM disciplines and produce up to 250 Ph.D.s a year. “Cal-Bridge has tremendous potential,” he says. “It could really transform higher education and the tech workforce.”

Making Sense out of Nonsense: How One Graduating Senior Learned the Law of Physics on the Road Less Traveled

Published: May 10, 2023
Publication: Cal State East Bay
Author: Kimberly Hawkins

When Brittany Karki was growing up in the Oakland Public School system, she bought into the notion that kids like her go to school, graduate and get a job. So, when she got her diploma from Oakland High in 2009, she went to work as a warehouse operator and then as a hairstylist. However, between the long shifts and demands of everyday life, Karki was able to take science classes at community colleges. The subject always interested her because she grew up inspired by PBS’s Bill Nye the Science Guy.

“Everyone tells me this stuff is really hard and this is way out of my field,” said Karki. “But I figured if I fail, I fail, but how will I know if I could actually do it if I didn’t try?”

In 2020, Karki transferred to Cal State East Bay. She is graduating this spring with a bachelor of science in physics and has been accepted into seven Ph.D. programs at universities across the country.

“My hard work, persistence, my passion — it got me somewhere,” said Karki. “It’s exciting. Cal State East Bay helped me so much. The school is very diverse, but our department is so small, which I love. We joke because Dr. [Derek Jackson] Kimball’s homework is so hard that his office hours become our hang-out time because everyone is trying to figure it out. It’s fun.”

Karki remembers more days than not, sitting in lecture halls trying to make sense of what she could not.

“I would think, ‘Is today the day that I drop the class?’” said Karki. “But when I would study the notes, go through the textbook, go through the example problems line by line and slowly, I would start to make sense of it — bit by bit.”

All of these tiny moments of patience and learning that physics is about problem-solving helped her to keep going and it is what continues to motivate her today.

“You can always keep asking why, and there’s usually always more explanation, and even when there is not, that’s also an exciting point because I really want to do research,” said Karki. “Within physics, there is always more to do, more to see, more to explore. Particle wave duality of photons — what does that even mean? I’ve been studying that, and I still feel like it doesn’t really make sense, but it’s so freaking cool that I want to keep exploring and studying that — all the things that photons can do.”

During her time at Cal State East Bay, Karki traveled to Paris for a summer internship. It was the first time she has been out of the country and her inner doubt started creeping back in.

“I’m sitting on the plane and thinking my life is a mess,” said Karki. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I just met my peer group from big-name institutions. I’m literally 10 and 11 years older than all of them. I was like afraid.”

Karki said she was intimidated until she realized that she did the same work, asked the same questions as her peers and had as much right to be there as any of them.

Of all the sciences in the U.S., physics has the lowest representation of women. According to African American Women in Physics, only 150 Black women in the U.S. have earned their doctorates in physics, are current graduate students in physics, or have worked in the field.

“It makes me sad,” said Karki. “Where are we? I really wish I saw faces that look like mine.”

Just as Karki looked for faces that resembled hers, she is certain that in coming years, others will be doing the same and she hopes to be an example for them — to show the value of the journey, regardless of its winding pathways and naysayers.

“Education is inaccessible to my community, the community I came from,” said Karki. “I want to help people. I remember so many young people who had an interest in science just like me and it’s still just so far away from them.”

This summer before heading to the University of Illinois for the Ph.D. program, Karki will be camping with other Cal State East Bay physics students to study dark matter in an experiment led by Professor Derek Jackson Kimball.

“Brittany totally embodies the spirit of our physics community at Cal State East Bay,” said Kimball. “She is such a shining example to her fellow students and so inspiring to everyone who knows her. She told me that from an early age, she had always loved untying knots and always volunteered to help others untie them if she had the chance. This is a great metaphor for Brittany’s approach to physics — she is always happy to dig into challenging problems and really enjoys the process of figuring them out, no matter how long it takes.”

Fulfilling the promise: UCI Cal-Bridge graduates secure state higher-education faculty positions

Published: May 3, 2023
Publication: UCI News
Author: Brian Bell, UCI

Katy Rodriguez Wimberly and Manuel Paul pursued their doctorates in physics and astronomy at UCI and are now both fulfilling their promise as they begin new positions as faculty members at California institutions of higher education.

Uniting them is their status as Cal-Bridge scholars. Cal-Bridge is a higher education program that provides a pathway for students from historically underrepresented populations to move up from the California State University system to a University of California institution to pursue advanced degrees in physics and astronomy.

Rodriguez Wimberly has accepted a tenure-track position in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at California State University, San Bernardino, starting in the fall. Paul has been offered a tenure-track faculty position at Cosumnes River College, a community college in Sacramento, where he will start teaching physics and astronomy courses in August.

Cal-Bridge serves students at 116 California community colleges, all 23 CSU campuses and nine UC locations. It was designed to open doors to educational opportunities to women people of color to help diversify the state’s science, technology, engineering and math professoriate and workforce. Launched in 2014, Cal-Bridge supports students through their Ph.D. studies at UCs by providing funding for tuition and research projects, professional development and guidance from mentors.

An Army veteran, Rodriguez Wimberly became a Cal-Bridge scholar in 2015 as a student at California State University, Long Beach. She was accepted into the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics at UCI in 2021 before becoming a NSF MSP-Ascend postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at UC Riverside. As a professor at CSUSB, Rodriguez Wimberly will remain part of the Cal-Bridge program as a faculty mentor to physics and astronomy students at the university. She will also join the Cal-Bridge leadership team as statewide director of the mentorship program.

“Cal-Bridge was crucial for me not only in preparing for graduate school but creating and expanding my network of amazing and caring scientists; many of my astrophysics research collaborators I’ve connected with through Cal-Bridge,” says Rodriguez Wimberly. “My network and the support they give me has enabled me to create the career of my dreams, which is doing excellent astrophysics research, contributing to an equitable and inclusive STEM community through mentorship work and research and staying in Southern California with my family.”

Originally from San Bernardino County, Paul went to CSUSB, as an undergraduate majoring in applied physics. He went on to UCI to pursue his Ph.D. and was awarded an NSF GRFP fellowship in his first year. Paul will also continue with Cal-Bridge, recruiting students at his new campus to apply to the program as they transfer to a CSU to complete their four-year bachelor’s degree.

“The Cal-Bridge network has benefitted me tremendously by connecting me with an advisor who supported and encouraged me. I would have never applied to graduate school without that support,” Paul says.

Kevork Abazajian, UCI professor of physics & astronomy, is the leader of Cal-Bridge at UCI, which is the longest-serving and top UC institution in terms of accepting Cal-Bridge scholars. He is also co-director of the organization’s physics and astronomy operation statewide.

“Katy Rodriguez Wimberly and Manuel Paul are perfect examples of the personal success that students from underrepresented communities can achieve through Cal-Bridge,” Abazajian says. “With the help provided by initial funding by the NSF and more recent financial support through the State of California, we hope to continue the growth and prosperity of the program.”

If you want to learn more about supporting this or other activities at UCI, please visit the Brilliant Future website. Publicly launched on Oct. 4, 2019, the Brilliant Future campaign aims to raise awareness and support for UCI. By engaging 75,000 alumni and garnering $2 billion in philanthropic investment, UCI seeks to reach new heights of excellence in student success, health and wellness, research and more. The School of Physical Sciences plays a vital role in the success of the campaign. Learn more by visiting https://brilliantfuture.uci.edu/uci-school-of-physical-sciences/.

USC Rossier aims to diversify pipeline of future educators: How faculty are leading the way to bring equity-minded change to graduate education.

Published: March 21, 2023
Publication: USC Rossier School of Education
Author: Adriana Maestas

While colleges and universities have improved the diversity of the undergraduate student body—with about 45% of students identifying as people of color, representing a gain of 30% over two decades—much work remains to be done in diversifying graduate degree programs that train future professors and leaders. Approximately one-third of undergraduates go on to pursue graduate studies, while the pipeline narrows for students of color who opt to take the next leap in their studies post-bachelor’s degree.

According to recent data from the Council of Graduate Schools, about 26% of all first-time graduate-school enrollees who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents were members of underrepresented minority groups in the fall of 2020. Financial pressure, spending excessive amounts of time in remedial education, and feeling isolated or unsupported are just some of the reasons why undergraduate students of color say they struggle and do not proceed in their studies.

Fortunately, USC Rossier faculty are applying research to practice, with the goal of better preparing universities to educate and train diverse students who intend to pursue graduate studies.

Some of the ways USC Rossier faculty are tackling the diversity problem in the professoriate pipeline include preparing undergraduates to be competitive applicants for graduate school, advocating for more equitable admissions practices, and providing resources for faculty and staff who work in graduate programs to foster a more supportive and welcoming environment for diverse students.

STEP 1: DIVERSIFYING THE PIPELINE

One of the first steps toward increasing access to graduate school is to better prepare upper-division undergraduate students for graduate study. One interdisciplinary training program that prepares underrepresented students, specifically Black and Latinx students, is the Research Institute for Scholars of Equity training program (RISE). Housed at a historically Black college, North Carolina Central University (NCCU), RISE counts USC Rossier Associate Professor Royel Johnson among its principal investigators and was the only HBCU to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

Inequities for Black and Latinx students often begin with lower-quality pre-kindergarten, creating an equity gap that becomes challenging to close. RISE fellows—juniors and seniors who come from the communities impacted by these inequities—have an interest in social equity and conducting research to improve the learning experiences and academic attainment of Black and Latinx students from pre-K through the university level. The RISE training program gives these undergraduate fellows an opportunity to conduct mixed-methods education research while receiving mentorship and support to prepare them for graduate study.

The next phase of the program, RISE 2.0, is a partnership between NCCU and USC. Students participate in a rigorous eight-week summer program, with sessions covering GRE preparation, applying to graduate school, and putting together a competitive application, said Johnson, who instructs RISE fellows. Funded with a training grant of $1.5 million, the program “provides resources to develop undergraduate researchers to study issues in education, similar to what a McNair program does,” he said.

The program has funding to train about 60 scholars, with cohorts of about a dozen, Johnson added. The first cohort of scholars participated in the summer session on the NCCU campus in 2022. Recruitment for student participants in RISE 2.0 is national in scope.

“The RISE scholars have housing and a meal plan at NCCU for the summer program,” said Johnson, who also serves as director of student engagement at the USC Race and Equity Center. “It’s an excellent opportunity to expose students of color who are studying at predominantly White institutions to HBCUs. There’s definitely a cultural legacy embedded in the program.”

RISE fellows receive $6,000 stipends, helping them focus on their studies instead of work. In addition, they benefit from an immersive experience focused on research methodologies, American schooling and educational laws, and policies and practices that impact Black and Latinx students. In addition to receiving 12 hours of GRE prep, fellows are also trained on human-subject research and can receive up to $900 for research-related expenses.

RISE 2.0 is a unique opportunity to build a pipeline of scholars of color who are prepared to enter graduate school with research questions they have already started to explore. Its programming extends beyond the summer into the academic year, with monthly check-in sessions and online convenings so that the undergraduates continue to build relationships and community as emerging scholars.

While USC and NCCU are partnering institutions in RISE 2.0, collaborating institutions include Houston- Tillotson University, Jarvis Christian College, Paul Quinn College, Temple University, Texas College, the University of New Mexico, the University of North Carolina–Wilmington, Wiley College and Virginia Union University.

“It’s an excellent opportunity to expose students of color who are studying at predominantly White institutions to HBCUs. There’s definitely a cultural legacy embedded in the program.” —USC Rossier Associate Professor Royel Johnson

Another promising California-based bridge program has the potential to move the needle on representation of scientists from underrepresented groups. The number of Latinx, Black and Native American students receiving STEM PhDs is about 14%, even though these groups make up more than 30% of the U.S. population. In the fields of physics and astronomy, the diversity problem is even more pronounced, with only 6% of PhDs awarded to members of underrepresented minority groups. While RISE focuses on scholars studying inequities in education, Cal-Bridge—a partnership of the University of California and California State University—creates opportunities for underrepresented students to increase their numbers in PhD programs in STEM fields.

USC Rossier Associate Professor Julie Posselt is a principal investigator for Cal-Bridge, which is designed for California State University (CSU) students interested in pursuing a STEM-related PhD with the goal of matriculating into a UC doctoral program. Through mentoring and professional development, the National Science Foundation-funded project helps underrepresented minorities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, disabled and first-generation students advance in STEM fields including physics, astronomy, computer science and computer engineering. Cal-Bridge recruits students entering their junior year at a CSU campus and supports them for three years, through their first year of graduate school. There are four pillars of support for Cal-Bridge students: 1) joint mentoring by two faculty, one from their home CSU campus and the other from a nearby UC campus; 2) need-based scholarships of up to $10,000 per year so program participants can cut back on their work hours to focus on their studies; 3) professional development workshops that prepare students to apply to PhD programs; and 4) a summer research opportunity.

The Cal-Bridge summer program enables the undergraduate scholars to participate in research projects for eight to 10 weeks in the summer. To ease the financial burden for participants, students are paid a stipend, and housing and travel costs are covered by the program.

Posselt said Cal-Bridge has been so successful that the California State Legislature has allocated $5 million into the state budget to support the program’s expansion. In her capacity as co-PI, Posselt has used research findings to inform project strategy via discussions with the project’s operational leadership. Posselt and her research team are using social network analysis and longitudinal departmental case studies to understand the progression of Cal-Bridge scholars pursuing graduate education in astronomy and physics. Data collection for Cal-Bridge began in summer 2019 and will continue for five years. Social network analysis can broaden the understanding of trust networks and how students who are historically underrepresented benefit from intensive mentoring and exposure to undergraduate research opportunities with their peers.

STEP 2: PREPARING GRADUATE SCHOOLS TO BETTER SUPPORT A DIVERSE STUDENT BODY

Preparing underrepresented students for graduate studies is just one piece of the puzzle. Another major challenge to creating equitable access to graduate schools involves changing the schools themselves. One such effort, which seeks to improve admissions policies at graduate schools and better prepare them to support increasingly diverse student populations, is the Equity in Graduate Education Consortium. Led by Posselt, this research initiative initially started as a project to scale holistic graduate admissions practices to six California universities. The consortium works with graduate programs and leaders to align policies and practices to equity and inclusion commitments. One of the goals is to apply racial equity research to build supportive, sustainable infrastructure that transforms and reconfigures structures that have excluded students of color and those from other underrepresented backgrounds.

Many of the underlying inequality issues with graduate education have roots in the challenges students face during their baccalaureate studies. Undergraduates from underserved backgrounds are more likely to have to work to support themselves during their studies than other students, and those from low-income families are more likely to work longer hours than their more affluent peers, cutting into time that could be spent studying or engaging in a research program that would help in determining an area of study for graduate school. Research shows that undergraduates who work more than 20 hours per week have lower grades and retention rates.

Excellent grades and experience in conducting research are some of the qualities that have traditionally defined competitive graduate school applicants. Those qualities are biased against students who are underrepresented or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, many of whom are students of color. Creating a more equitable graduate admissions process involves taking a more holistic approach to evaluating an applicant. This means implementing the kind of equity-minded organizational change that Posselt’s research calls for.

For Posselt—who is also affiliated with the Pullias Center for Higher Education, a USC Rossier research center aimed at addressing major challenges in educational equity—these changes could include using new rubrics to evaluate prospective graduate students, improving diversity in a holistic review process. Other changes might include actively involving faculty to participate in recruiting students from racially minoritized groups, and learning from programs that have been successful in implementing designs for equity.

“Equity is more than closing gaps. It’s doing what it takes to keep gaps closed, keep diverse scholars engaged at all levels of education, and re-create the broken systems, structures and cultures that contribute to inequalities,” Posselt said. “Every year, more and more people and organizations are ready to take on this challenge, and it’s a privilege to lead research-practice partnerships that are helping them do so.”

Once these students arrive in graduate school, the institutions that accept them are often not wholly prepared to receive and support them. The Equity in Graduate Education Consortium, which Posselt directs and serves as principal investigator, offers professional and organizational development to change-ready universities, graduate programs and faculty to transform graduate admissions and recruitment.

This project has now scaled up to 13 universities nationally, including 84 PhD programs. The organizational change model has been so successful in diversifying applicants and enrollees in doctoral programs that it has also been replicated by a group of universities in England.

“Equity is more than closing gaps. It’s doing what it takes to keep gaps closed, keep diverse scholars engaged at all levels of education, and re-create the broken systems, structures and cultures that contribute to inequalities.” —USC Rossier Associate Professor Julie Posselt

The consortium’s workshops provide guidance on how graduate programs can begin implementing changes to policies and practices that have undermined the access and success of racially minoritized students. For instance, developing equity-minded mentoring relationships between faculty and graduate students is one area that can profoundly impact success. The workshops also teach faculty how to distinguish among mentoring, advising, supervising and sponsorship activities and train them on how to have culturally responsive conversations with mentees across social differences. Recognizing the overall well-being of minoritized students is also tackled in terms of how to have open conversations about mental health, wellness, and how racism and isolation can pose a risk to diverse graduate students.

STEP 3: DEMYSTIFYING THE PROFESSORIATE

Graduates of master’s and doctoral programs often go on to fulfill leadership roles in academia and other sectors and become faculty at institutions of higher education. One of the goals of diversifying graduate student bodies is also to diversify these very leadership roles and higher ed faculty. Just as there are unwritten rules on the path to becoming an academic, from how grad school applications are prepared to entering a doctoral program with research questions identified, there are additional rules in the job-search process to seek a tenure-track position. How candidates present in interviews and at academic conferences, how those candidates are judged by other faculty and the number of publications the applicant has in peer-reviewed journals are just some of the many factors that influence who becomes a professor.

USC Rossier faculty are noted for taking an equity-minded approach to their research. The professors are also known for informing their graduate students about the processes and structures that their students will encounter as they embark on their academic careers. “There are a few ways that I see USC Rossier faculty working to diversify the professoriate,” said Wilmon A. Christian III, director of workplace equity at the USC Race and Equity Center. “On a smaller scale, our faculty participate in coaching, mentoring, and sponsoring and working with underrepresented students in hands-on ways to prepare them for the rigors of the professoriate. The other important thing that happens is how USC Rossier faculty demystify the professoriate and explain what they do and what it takes to get into these positions with their research and the projects that they are involved in.”

“Reflecting on my own experience,” Christian added, “coming from an HBCU and attending graduate school at a predominantly White institution, I’m grateful that I had mentors who broke things down for me and helped me with small things, like how I was crafting my personal statement, how I was refining my research interests and connecting with scholars who were doing the research and work that I was interested in pursuing.”

Taking a systems-and-structure approach to creating that ripple effect in attracting, recruiting and retaining emerging scholars of color is what USC Rossier faculty are pursuing to diversify the professoriate. This involves applying research findings and insights to understand why existing structures have produced a college professoriate that is not as diverse as the growing student population. A systems approach also involves examining the relationships among students, faculty and staff within and outside the college campus and the policies and practices that impact those students. In addition, this approach acknowledges that interactions with systems in a student’s environment can have a profound impact on their success and preparation for postbaccalaureate studies.

“Reflecting on my own experience, coming from an HBCU and attending graduate school at a predominantly White institution, I’m grateful that I had mentors who broke things down for me and helped me with small things.” —Wilmon A. Christian III, director of workplace equity at the USC Race and Equity Center

“When we think about improving access to graduate education and how we can diversify the faculty, we need to shift from individual responsibility and look more at institutional responsibility,” Posselt said.

The programs and research that USC Rossier faculty are involved in to promote diversity in graduate education and prepare underrepresented students to enter the academy as professors remind us that institutions and organizations can take more responsibility in their commitment to equity and diversity. USC Rossier’s scholars are committed to applying their research in practical ways to address the institutionalized racism in higher education that has kept scholars of color and other marginalized people out of the professoriate. The school’s commitment to diversifying the professoriate does not end with preparing graduates for the job market. Since 2020, more than 80% of the school’s faculty hires—including the appointment of Royel Johnson—have been scholars of color.Illustration/Sonia Pulido

Unlocking potential: Cal-Bridge offers funding and mentors to promising undergrads seeking PhDs in science

Published: October 24, 2022
Publication: UCI News
Author: Roy Rivenburg, UCI

She morphed from an Army saxophone player (who also portrayed Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland) into a card-carrying astrophysicist, courtesy of “Star Trek: Voyager,” UCI and a then-little-known program called Cal-Bridge.

As one of Cal-Bridge’s first five scholars, Katy Rodriguez Wimberly is a poster child for the initiative, which finds “diamonds in the rough” at California State University and community college campuses and steers them toward UC doctoral programs, mostly in astronomy and physics.

Launched in 2014, Cal-Bridge aims to boost the ranks of women and underrepresented ethnic groups among science professors and practitioners. Each scholar receives two years of financial aid and extensive mentoring from UC and CSU faculty while completing their undergraduate degree. At UCI, the program is led by Kevork Abazajian, a professor of physics and astronomy who also directs Cal-Bridge’s physics and astronomy operation statewide.

“It helped so much it’s hard to put into words,” says Rodriguez Wimberly, who dropped her entertainment career aspirations after “watching a lot of ‘Star Trek: Voyager’” and realizing her true passion is in the heavens, not Hollywood.

In her late 20s, while working as a staff sergeant and saxophonist in the U.S. Army Reserves, she returned to college, this time focusing on physics and astronomy instead of theater. And Cal-Bridge proved critical. Studying physics is very different from studying acting, she says, but the program’s advisors showed her the ropes and offered guidance on seeking a doctoral degree.

Francisco Javier Mercado, who expects to finish his Ph.D. in astronomy at UCI next summer, says he was “barely hanging on” during his first two years at Cal Poly Pomona, juggling school and a full-time job. Cal-Bridge’s financial aid package freed him up to concentrate on academics and conduct research as a junior and senior.

Mercado and Rodriguez Wimberly, a mother of two who earned a Ph.D. at UCI last year and now explores galaxy evolution as a postdoc at UC Riverside, both say they hope to land faculty posts. That’s exactly the kind of outcome that was envisioned by Cal-Bridge founder and executive director Alexander Rudolph, a professor of physics and astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona.

Students from minority groups are “so badly underrepresented in physics it’s shameful,” he said when the program got underway eight years ago. At the time, Hispanics, Blacks and Native Americans made up 27 percent of the U.S. population but less than 4 percent of those earning doctorate degrees in physics and astronomy.

UCI faculty played key roles in forming Cal-Bridge, which was modeled after a similar grad school pipeline connecting Fisk University, a historically Black college in Nashville, Tennessee, to Ph.D. studies at nearby Vanderbilt University.

When Rudolph devised his spin on the concept and needed UC partners, he turned to UCI astrophysicist Tammy Smecker-Hane, now retired. She began recruiting professors at UC campuses while Rudolph worked the Cal State crowd. And Abazajian designed workshops and professional development programs for the student scholars.

Seeded with a $600,000 National Science Foundation grant, Cal-Bridge debuted as a consortium of eight Cal State schools, five UCs and eight community colleges in Southern California.

In 2017, a $5 million NSF grant enabled the project to expand to Northern California and add majors. Today, Cal-Bridge counts 180 faculty mentors working with 90 student scholars studying astronomy, physics, computer science and math. Nine UC campuses, 23 CSU schools and more than 110 community colleges belong to the statewide network.

Abazajian is Cal-Bridge’s longest-serving UC member. And UCI, he says, is No. 1 among UC schools in admitting Cal-Bridge physics and astronomy scholars.

“It’s a terrific success story,” Abazajian says. “Ninety percent of our scholars get into graduate programs, and nearly 40 percent are women and 59 percent are underrepresented minorities, predominantly Latinos and Latinas. Slowly but surely, Cal-Bridge is helping to create a STEM workforce and professoriate that better reflect the population of this state.”

If you want to learn more about supporting this or other activities at UCI, please visit the Brilliant Future website at https://brilliantfuture.uci.edu. Publicly launched on Oct. 4, 2019, the Brilliant Future campaign aims to raise awareness and support for UCI. By engaging 75,000 alumni and garnering $2 billion in philanthropic investment, UCI seeks to reach new heights of excellence in student success, health and wellness, research and more. The School of Physical Sciences plays a vital role in the success of the campaign. Learn more by visiting https://brilliantfuture.uci.edu/uci-school-of-physical-sciences/.

California approves $5 million to fund diversity in science and technology education

Published: July 8, 2022
Publication: UCI News
Author: Tom Vasich

Cal-Bridge Program aims to diversify the state’s public university faculty and tech workforce

The State of California has approved $5 million in funding for the Cal-Bridge program which provides a pathway for underrepresented students in Community Colleges and the California State University system to pursue advanced Ph.D. degrees through the University of California   system and join the California science and technology workforce, including as public university faculty.

The Cal-Bridge program, launched in 2014, is a statewide partnership between 9 UC, 23 CSU, and 116 community colleges across California supporting undergraduate CSU students majoring in physics, computer science, and mathematics to matriculate into PhD programs across the state and nation. The new California state budget allocation will enable Cal-Bridge to expand the subject areas covered and extend its impact, supporting Cal-Bridge scholars all the way from their CSU undergraduate studies through their UC PhDs, thereby building a pathway for thousands of California students from diverse backgrounds to achieve the expertise needed to fill university faculty and technology leadership positions in California and beyond.

“Diversifying the professoriate will lead to a growth in gender, racial, and ethnic representation in the technology workforce more broadly by increasing the number of students from historically underrepresented groups completing degrees in STEM fields because they see faculty that look like them,” said Cal-Bridge Executive Director Alexander Rudolph, professor of physics and astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona. “As countries around the world are increasing their investment in science and technology, making sure our nation uses all of the available talent in developing our expertise and capabilities in these fields is an issue of economic and national security.”

Maria “Katy” Rodriguez Wimberly is a striking example of the power of the Cal-Bridge approach. An Army veteran, Wimberly took classes at the community college level before transferring to California State University, Long Beach where she joined the Cal-Bridge program in 2015. Wimberly graduated with a B.S. degree in physics from Long Beach and went on to earn a PhD in astrophysics at UC Irvine in 2021. She is now an NSF MPS-Ascend postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at UC Riverside.

Commenting on how the Cal-Bridge program provided the support she needed for success, Wimberly said, “The network of mentors and peers Cal-Bridge has helped me create has been invaluable in my pursuit of an astrophysics Ph.D.! I now have an incredible support system of similarly underrepresented astro grad students and mentors who actively work to build a more inclusive community.”

Kevork Abazajian, professor of physics & astronomy, is the Cal-Bridge UC-South director and runs the program at UCI.

About Cal-Bridge: The Cal-Bridge program has the mission to create a comprehensive, end-to-end pathway for undergraduates from the diverse student population of the CSU system through graduate school to a PhD, postdoctoral fellowship, and ultimately membership in the professoriate and science and technology workforce. Students in the program are referred to as Cal-Bridge scholars.

The program is a partnership between 9 University of California, all 23 California State University and the 116 community college campuses in the state, thus fulfilling the promise of cross-segmental cooperation envisioned in the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Scholars are recruited from CSU and community college campuses across the state, with the help of local faculty and/or staff liaisons at each campus. Community college students transfer to a participating CSU to join the program.

California approves $5 million to fund diversity in science and technology education: Cal-Bridge Program brings together the three levels of the California higher education system to diversify the California public university faculty and tech workforce

Published: July 6, 2022
Publication: UC Santa Cruz
Author: Tim Stephens

The State of California has approved $5 million in funding for the Cal-Bridge program, which provides a pathway for underrepresented students in California Community Colleges and the California State University (CSU) system to pursue advanced PhD degrees through the University of California system and join the California science and technology workforce, including as public university faculty.

The Cal-Bridge program, launched in 2014, is a statewide partnership between 9 UC, 23 CSU, and 116 community colleges across California supporting CSU students majoring in physics, computer science, and mathematics to matriculate into PhD programs across the state and nation. The new California state budget allocation will enable Cal-Bridge to expand the subject areas covered and extend its impact, supporting Cal-Bridge scholars all the way from their CSU undergraduate studies through their UC PhDs.

“The new state funding will provide more young Californians from historically underrepresented communities with the opportunity to pursue a doctorate degree and access the support needed to successfully complete the degree and thrive in their chosen professions,” said Lori Kletzer, Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at UC Santa Cruz.

Bruce Schumm, a professor of physics at UC Santa Cruz who co-leads the Northern California Cal-Bridge program, said plans for the expansion include developing a comprehensive program of support and professional development through the years of graduate study. “This generous funding from the state will allow us to complete a unique, end-to-end pathway that can support students from our diverse community college and CSU campuses from the earliest steps of their college education through their entrance into careers in academia and industry,” he said.

The expanded program will build a pathway for thousands of California students from diverse backgrounds to achieve the expertise needed to fill university faculty and technology leadership positions in California and beyond.

“Diversifying the professoriate will lead to a growth in gender, racial, and ethnic representation in the technology workforce more broadly by increasing the number of students from historically underrepresented groups completing degrees in STEM fields because they see faculty that look like them,” said Cal-Bridge Executive Director Alexander Rudolph, professor of physics and astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona. “As countries around the world are increasing their investment in science and technology, making sure our nation uses all of the available talent in developing our expertise and capabilities in these fields is an issue of economic and national security.”

“I’m so proud to have secured $5 million in the California State budget for the Cal-Bridge program to diversify the State’s science and technology workforce,” said Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine), who was the chief sponsor of the effort to win funding for the initiative in the state budget. “Breaking down barriers to entry into STEM fields for historically underrepresented groups and diversifying California’s public university professoriate will help California continue to thrive as a world-class hub for innovation.”

UCSC graduate student Rene Padilla is a Cal-Bridge scholar who credits the program with clearing his pathway to a Ph.D. Padilla started his education at Modesto Junior College, going on to receive his B.S. degree in physics from Stanislaus State in 2019.

“Making the transition from a community college to a CSU campus was challenging,” said Padilla. “However, doing the transition from a CSU to a PhD was even harder and more complex. Nevertheless, the Cal-Bridge community gave me the necessary tools to successfully make the transition and move forward towards my dream school. Now, after several years, I am a candidate for a PhD in physics at UC Santa Cruz. I never imagined that I could make it that far, but having the support from a program like Cal-Bridge made a big difference in my life. I am sure that increasing the resources of the Cal-Bridge program will increase the chances of students like me to get into high-level education programs.”

Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee and Nancy Skinner (D-East Bay), Chair of the Senate Budget Committee together helped shepherd the appropriation into the state budget and are both excited to support the Cal-Bridge Initiative. Ting commented, “Cal-Bridge is a uniquely Californian treasure, ensuring fair and equal access to all the opportunities offered by our state’s outstanding higher education system. Cal-Bridge opens doors for all in our state to the most exciting and well-paid careers in science and technology, regardless of where they start their education. I’m excited to support Cal-Bridge, to see it funded in this year’s budget and look forward to watching it grow to benefit thousands of Californians over the coming years.”

Skinner added, “California has made progress in diversifying our public colleges and universities, but there is still much work to do. Black and Latinx students, in particular, remain underrepresented at our CSU and UC campuses. The Cal-Bridge program is essential to closing this racial gap, which is why I’m proud the Legislature and Governor have agreed to fund it in this year’s state budget. Cal-Bridge not only is effective at attracting underrepresented students to STEM fields, but also in ensuring that our cohort of future college professors in physics, computer science, and mathematics is diverse as well.”

For more information, visit www.calbridge.org.

About Cal-Bridge: The Cal-Bridge program has the mission to create a comprehensive, end-to-end pathway for undergraduates from the diverse student population of the CSU system through graduate school to a PhD, postdoctoral fellowship, and ultimately membership in the professoriate and science and technology workforce. Students in the program are referred to as Cal-Bridge scholars.

The program is a partnership between 9 University of California (UC), all 23 California State University (CSU), and the 116 community college campuses in California, thus fulfilling the promise of cross-segmental cooperation envisioned in the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Scholars are recruited from CSU and community college campuses across the state, with the help of local faculty and/or staff liaisons at each campus. Community college students transfer to a participating CSU to join the program.

Cal State San Bernardino Physics Senior: Reflecting on the Past, the Present, and the Future

Published: March 22, 2022
Publication: The California State University
Author: Monica Alarcon

Joel Cortez was born in Hermosillo Sonora, Mexico, and migrated to the United States with his parents when he was one year old. His parents, Brenda Osuna and Joel Cortez, were uneducated and lived in poverty. They left Mexico for a better way of life and for educational opportunities for Joel. It was a huge sacrifice for the family as they left their family, friends, and culture behind them. They knew coming to the U.S. would be challenging because they did not know the language, were unemployed, and were unfamiliar with the culture. Joel’s future was more important to them than any challenge they would face as immigrants in a new country. 22 years later, they know they made the right choice in coming to American. They are proud of Joel for taking advantage of all the educational opportunities provided to him. Joel does not take their sacrifice for granted and is not complacent with how proud they are of him today. He wants to continue to make them more proud and he is ready to accomplish more extraordinary things in his educational and professional journey. Growing up, he always knew he would go to college and major in a STEM field because these classes always inspired him to think of the impossible.

Economic Challenges… After graduating from high school, Joel was accepted to Cal State San Bernardino and the University of La Verne. However, he was unable to attend either of them. Due to economic reasons his family and he were facing at the time, he attended a community college. This choice would allow him to afford school and be close to his family. Joel spent three years at the College of the Desert. It was disappointing for him not to be able to attend a 4-year university as he had planned to but he credits the community college for getting him interested in STEM. While completing his general education courses, he realized he enjoyed his math and science classes. He excelled in these courses and he thought he would eventually earn a degree in computer science.

Physics Inspired… After completing his three years at College of the Desert, Joel was finally ready to transfer to a 4-year university. Again, he was accepted to various higher education institutions and decided to attend Cal State San Bernardino for the fall 2020 semester. He knew that campus would be an excellent fit for him. It was a university that would not burden him economically. In addition, he was accepted into the Cal-Bridge program​, a program he knew would support him in reaching his education and research goals. During Joel’s first year at Cal State San Bernardino, he quickly learned that his true passion was physics. He wanted to learn everything about physics. He wanted to understand how things worked in the world and the mathematical problems one can use to solve them. He became fascinated with how physics helped the world organize the universe and he knew he wanted to be a part of that. He found that physics stimulated his creative side in positive ways. Physics also helped Joel see the world differently and inspired him to want to change and impact it positively. Physics also led him to become more interested in research projects. He sought opportunities at Cal State San Bernardino through the Cal-Bridge program to get more involved in research opportunities.

Staying Engaged During the Pandemic… His research experience at Cal State San Bernardino was unique. Joel had transitioned into his first year on campus online during a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was still surging throughout most communities. Thus, most of his first-year experience was as a student online. The pandemic made his research opportunities somewhat limited. Yet, he was able to lean on his Cal-Bridge membership and took advantage of the program’s resources. Cal-Bridge would host online workshops monthly to prep them for their semester curriculum and provide information about future research opportunities and internships. Although he was studying remotely, he was very active within the program. He stayed engaged, and eventually was assigned to two Cal-Bridge mentors, Dr.Matteo Crismani at CSUSB and Dr. Anson D’Aloisio of UC Riverside. The dual mentorship prepared him and encouraged him to apply to PhD programs. In addition, ​Dr. Matteo Crismani who saw a lot of potential in Joel and approached him about participating in his research. Joel agreed because developing research skills was important to him.

Research Experience… He found research challenging in the beginning. Joel struggled with how to read scientific journals and had to develop numerous skills he did not have at the time. He had to learn how to see things from a scientific perspective. He felt like quitting many times but with the help and encouragement of Dr. Crismani and the Cal-Bridge program, he was able to overcome many of those challenges. Eventually, Joel felt confident enough to present his research to an audience. When Dr. Crismani asked him if he wanted to participate in the STEM-NET Edison Student Research symposium, Joel agreed. Although he admitted he was nervous about presenting his research, he knew the experience would help expand his research growth. He presented his research on May 7th, and to his surprise, he had a great time. Since then, he has participated in three more research presentations. In the summer of 2021, he participated in the H&S Summer Research Symposium and presented the topic of light dark matter at Stanford University. That same summer, he participated in the Cal-Bridge Summer Research Symposium. He shared his research on light dark matter with incoming Cal-Bridge students to give them a glimpse of the type of research they can get involved in. In Fall 2021, he also presented his research on clouds on Mars at the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR) hosted by Cal State San Bernadino. He is currently still researching the topic of clouds on Mars with Dr. ​Crismani and is actively looking for future research presentation opportunities.

The Future… Joel will be graduating in May 2022 with a physics degree. He wants to continue his clouds on Mars research but it will depend on the Ph.D. programs he is accepted to. Joel is also very interested in dark matter or planetary science research opportunities in the future. He has applied to many Ph.D. programs but hopes to be accepted into UC Riverside. His goal is to become a physics professor or find a research position. Meanwhile, he is focusing on enjoying his last semester at Cal State San Bernadino. He is also grateful for programs such as Cal-Bridge and professors like Dr. Crismani because they were a massive part of him shifting from being uncomfortable with research to becoming comfortable with conducting research.​

Astronaut Inspires Physics Student’s Love for Science

Published: December 13, 2021
Publication: CSUSM
Author: Tim Meehan

Sally Ride inspired a generation and beyond to pursue one’s dreams no matter the obstacles.

The first American woman and youngest American in space, Ride made her journey into history on June 18, 1983 as a crew member aboard the space shuttle Challenger STS-7.

About 25 years later, she inspired a fourth-grade girl from Escondido to pursue some science dreams of her own.

“I have always been interested in learning about physical science,” said Cal State San Marcos physics senior Daria Bonds. “I met Dr. Sally K. Ride at the San Diego Air and Space Museum when I was in fourth grade. Seeing her talk about being a physicist, an astronaut and steward of the environment was inspirational.”

That chance meeting, which came a few years before Ride died following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, started Bonds on a science path that has led her to becoming CSUSM’s current Society of Physics Students (SPS) president.

A graduate of Escondido High School, Bonds chose CSUSM for two reasons: the welcoming physics department and the supportive cross country and track coaches.

As if being a physics major and campus leader didn’t keep her busy enough, Bonds is a runner on the cross country team. While continuing to improve her personal bests each season, she earned CCAA All-Academic honors in 2019 and ’20 and captured the Big Blue Award three times – fall 2019, spring 2020 and again in fall 2020.

“I enjoy running and working out to maintain a mind and body balance,” said Bonds, who joined the cross country team at the same time as her brother David, who is a CSUSM junior majoring in software engineering. “I appreciate the leadership course that my coach Torrey Olson created to support student athletes developing leadership skills and positive team culture.”

Gerardo Dominguez is an associate professor of physics at CSUSM. He has worked extensively with Bonds as she is one of just two undergraduate students working in his lab this year. He is not alone in his reaction to Bonds being a collegiate athlete while studying physics. The science/running combination literally runs in the family as her other younger brother is planning on studying STEM at CSUSM next year and running cross country as well.

Coincidentally, before Ride became a trailblazer in so many ways, she was a top juniors tennis player, even dropping out of college briefly to pursue a tennis career before returning to Stanford to earn two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s degree and a Ph.D.

“It is impressive for any student to maintain the GPA that Daria has achieved as a physics major,” Dominguez said. “To do so while being a Division II athlete is very impressive in my opinion. Daria does her homework, comes prepared to meetings and pays attention to the details of her work. She asks great questions, asks for help when she needs it and communicates well. She is mature and committed and a joy to work with.”

Physics student Daria Bonds also is a member of the women’s cross country and track teams.

To prepare for her senior year and beyond, Bonds participated in a summer research program at Caltech.

Her research project concerned the study of outflows of material from the disks of galaxies, analyzing sophisticated computer simulations of galaxy evolution to determine the direction of those outflows within the composition and structure of the CGM halo regions.

“I had a wonderful time at CalTech (last) summer being surrounded by driven scientists and kind people,” said Bonds, who will also graduate with a minor in math. “I learned so much about my field of interest – astronomy and astrophysics. I made memories with other undergrad students exploring the L.A. area and memories with my lab group analyzing new data.”

In the spring, Bonds plans on bringing back Rocket Car Races with the SPS chapter. After the difficulties of being isolated during the pandemic, she is proud of the study and socialization opportunities she has helped create so far this school year.

She is also the president of the Women in Physics organization on campus. It’s easy to see her future is headed toward making a positive impact on the world.

Much like the hero she met in fourth grade.

“I want to be an advocate for science education and encourage other students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue studies in STEM,” Bonds said. “I’m looking forward to competing during the spring track season. I also plan to continue to run on my own time after I’ve graduated.”

For now, that means pursuing a Ph.D. program in astrophysics to do computational and theoretical astronomy research.

“I’m really happy for her to come out of being an undergrad and understanding what Ph.D. level research at a top R1 institution entails,” Dominguez said. “Beyond that, I think Daria will chart her course, do the homework and be successful. I’m excited to see how she develops as a scholar and I look forward to seeing her publish her first authored papers in a few years, maybe even sooner. Honestly, I find her inspirational.”

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