Dear Physicists:

I am writing an open letter to all folks who trained as physicists. I would like to set up a short 15–20 minute interview with you to discuss your career. The questions are all pretty simple, for example, “why did you choose physics?”, “what do you do for a career?”, and “what advice do you have for college students just starting out?” If you are interested, please email me at mwright@adelphi.edu.

I am looking to speak with all levels of physicists, from bachelor’s level to doctorate level and everything in between. I am especially looking for people who majored in physics, got a bachelor’s degree, and then did something other than physics for their career. Basically, if you majored in physics in college, I am looking for you.

My name is Matthew Wright and I am the chair of the physics department at Adelphi University (currently on sabbatical). I have spent the last six years or so as a Career Mentoring Fellow at the American Physical Society, I have a conference workshop and book (Be a Shark) that discusses career agency, and I am the lead conference planner for Cosmic Pathways (a career-focused conference for students in physics). I have worked on careers for physicists. One of my goals for my sabbatical this semester is to create a repository of videos of interviews on career possibilities for students who are trying to figure out if a career in physics is for them.

I have already interviewed 13 physicists. Check out the tool in beta: https://cosmicpathways.org/cosmic-pathways-physics-careers-project/

I would like to get to 100 physicists from all walks of life. Please sign up to be one of them by emailing mwright@adelphi.edu.

We need more physicists, especially now! Data from the American Institute of Physics (AIP) show that the number of physicists in the USA has fallen slightly in recent years. While that is something to worry about, there is a bigger elephant in the room: historically, half of graduate students in physics are international, and there has been a sharp decrease in the number of applicants. That means there will be less physicists for our future. Physicists are innovators, at the very top of the R&D process. We need successful physicists innovating throughout society to keep pace with the rest of the world. We need to find ways to talk to high school and college students about careers in physics. Students want to know that their hard work will lead to a successful career. My goal is to show them how physicists excel later in their career. There are many people doing amazing things on this front, and I am hoping that our career project will add to it.

Thank you,

Matthew Wright, Ph.D.

Web: https://cosmicpathways.org/

Email: mwright@adelphi.edu