There has been a recent groundswell of interest among physics educators in incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship in the physics curriculum, as more attention has been paid to the future career preparedness of physics graduates. There is evidence to support that adding workforce-relevant learning to the physics discipline not only enhances physics students' career preparedness and workforce confidence, but could also attract a larger and more diverse pool of physics majors. The NSF-funded PIPELINE project brings together efforts of faculty from seven physics departments to create new approaches to teaching innovation and entrepreneurship in physics which are being shared with the broader community. Exciting new curricular approaches to integrating workplace relevant concepts (e.g. value proposition, intellectual property), communication skills, and technical competencies into the scientific knowledge and skills typically taught to undergraduate physics majors have been developed during this three-year program. Research into attitudinal barriers among faculty and students to widespread adoption of physics innovation and entrepreneurship (PIE) education has also been done and has provided insights into physics students’ perceptions of how and whether key aspects of entrepreneurial mindset should be taught within physics. This poster will summarize key outcomes of PIPELINE and their relevance to promoting cross-disciplinary I & E collaborations. Work funded by National Science Foundation's IUSE program under Award No. 1624882.
Dr. Crystal Bailey is the Head of Career Programs at the American Physical Society (APS) in College Park, MD. Crystal works on several projects which are geared towards marketing physics and physics career information to high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and physics professionals. Some of her principle projects include the Physics InSight slideshow, career events and workshops at APS annual and division meetings, the APS Job Board and Job Fairs, APS Webinars, and maintaining resources on the APS Careers Website. As the principle investigator for the APS PIPELINE project, she also devotes significant amounts of time to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship education in physics.
Before coming to the APS, Dr. Bailey did research in nuclear physics at Indiana University, Bloomington in the area of few-body systems. In 2008 she received the Konopinski Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching from the IU Physics Department. She graduated with her PhD from IU in 2009.
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