The TEAM-UP project began in 2017 with the Task Force to Elevate the Representation of African Americans in Undergraduate Physics & Astronomy (TEAM-UP) commissioned by the AIP Board of Directors. TEAM-UP spent two years investigating the reasons for the persistent underrepresentation of African Americans in physics and astronomy and produced a report with its findings and evidence-based recommendations to increase the number of African Americans earning physics and astronomy bachelor’s degrees.

In 2020, TEAM-UP shared its findings in a groundbreaking final report. The Time is Now uncovers long-term systemic issues within the physics and astronomy communities that contribute to the underrepresentation of African Americans in these fields and makes important, actionable recommendations for community wide efforts to reverse this trend.

Following the report’s release in 2020, AIP conducted workshops supported by the Heising Simons Foundation, webinars, and a number of efforts to help physics and astronomy departments implement the report’s recommendations and develop action plans for systemic change.

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Since then, AIP has joined forces with several AIP Member Societies, the Society of Physics Students , and the broader physical society community to drive systemic change and increase successful outcomes for African American physics and astronomy majors with a new collective action initiative called TEAM-UP Together.

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