“The Superposition of Staying: How the Language of Women in Physics Embodies Dualities”

This research project is a product of six intense, reflective, and transformative weeks of research—built from a complete project pivot in Week 2. In this research project, I explore how women in physics express their identities, what language they use in describing their experiences, and what is revealed about the academic culture they’re navigating. I am grateful to my mentor, Dr. Chandra Turpen, and my principal investigator, Ms. Stephanie Williams, for their guidance and generosity. I was able to pull a thread from Ms. Stephanie Williams' PhD dissertation research to conduct my own research. I am deeply grateful to be a Ronald E. McNair Scholar at the University of Maryland, College Park. To everyone who believes in my efforts and commitment, thank you.

This artifact is connected to my pursuit of a PhD/JD dual degree. I am pursuing a PhD/JD dual degree to further explore consciousness, reality, and identity, among other things. This work introduces readers to one of the ways that I explore identity. This research project produced the first research paper I have ever written.  The creation of this piece of work is a result my resilience and intelligence, particularly because of the circumstances that unfolded during the summer research program that it was created to fulfill partial requirements for. Thanks to my efforts, I was able to create a piece of work that I could submit to support all of my graduate school applications. I am proud of this work, and it has encouraged me to continue to be diligent and push the needle forward to create a new research project that builds on this project.