Eric Hudson

An associate professor of physics, the next awardee also serves as the minority advisor for the physics department. As is widely understood within the discipline, in diversifying the students and faculty in physics, progress has been slow. This professor has devoted a great deal of personal time to enhancing fairness and equity; in so doing, he has substantially increased the department’s rate of change.

Passionate in advising underrepresented minority students on their academic programs, he meets with them regularly and even takes them out to dinner. As the diversity representative on the Physics Graduate Admissions Committee, he reads all applications and makes sure every candidate receives proper consideration. According to his department head, his efforts helped MIT’s Department of Physics achieve extraordinary results in recruiting graduate women and underrepresented minorities this year.

In addition to these formal roles in physics – and to the all-consuming research, teaching, and mentoring that are the core of faculty life — he also works extensively with the MIT Summer Research Program and CONVERGE, both pipeline programs that reach out to engage minority students in science and engineering, markedly increasing the odds that they will pursue graduate degrees and one day seek faculty positions.

For achieving diversity momentum in physics and beyond, please congratulate Eric Hudson.