APS Bridge Program

The University of Pittsburgh is a partnership institution in the American Physical Society’s Bridge Program, which provides an alternative avenue for admission to our Ph.D. program for members of minority groups which are underrepresented in Physics. 

The APS Bridge Program at the University of Pittsburgh takes the form of admission to our Ph.D. graduate program, with financial support in the first year, without any teaching responsibilities. During that academic year, they are supported by the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences fellowships, allowing students to take classes (at either the undergraduate or graduate level). It is common for US-educated graduate students in our department to take advanced undergraduate courses in their first year to prepare for graduate-level courses that are a required part of our Physics core, which they then take in the second year, so that Bridge students will be part of a broader cohort passing through our program together. That summer, students receive departmental support as research assistants, enabling them to work with any faculty research advisor. APS bridge students receive dedicated mentoring by faculty and students within the Physics and Astronomy department. Furthermore, students participate in mentoring, counseling and other activities of the University’s Hot Metal Bridge program, which brings together underrepresented minority students from several other departments at the University of Pittsburgh.

Information on how to apply for the APS Bridge Program is available at https://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/about/students.cfm.