A Year of ParticleBites

<!--HTML-->[ParticleBites.com][1] is a blog-based journal club written by graduate students targeted to undergraduates. Posts are accessible summaries of current research papers. While the public-facing blog is valuable for disseminating research, the group is also a science communication community within high-energy physics. Science communication can be powerful tools for supporting a sense of professional belonging among under-represented early career academics. We propose adapting the best practices from remote meetings to support this early-career particle physics community. This year we are using ParticleBites as a laboratory to apply methods of remote/virtual community building to pilot it as professional networking platform between graduate student writers. The goal is to train graduate students in research literacy, building a science communication portfolio, and supporting meaningful research interactions between early career physicists. Traditionally this type of networking only begins for advanced graduate students and is limited by geography and travel budgets. Our "Year of ParticleBites" pilot program will test if the sustainable virtual meetings can support student self efficacy and equitable training opportunities among graduate students. [1]: http://www.particlebites.com