Physics is one of the fields which remains male-dominated, despite the fact that women make up roughly half of all high school physics classes. The reason women don’t complete physics bachelors degrees at the same rate as men are sometimes subtle, and no one solution will fix the problem. The American Institute of Physics has reports on women in physics in which you can dig deeper into the data.
I am particularly interested in how peer networks can foster a sense of belonging, improving the recruitment and retention of members of underrepresented groups. As a graduate student at Penn State, I was one of the founders of the Physics and Astronomy for Women group, which has the goal of getting the women in the department together to form a support network. On the APS committee on the status of women in physics, I worked on a grant program to provide financial support to both new and existing women in physics groups at colleges universities. You can read an editorial I wrote on the benefits of women in physics groups for the Spring 2016 issue of the CSWP & COM Gazette.