Historically, research on "underrepresented" students in physics is conducted primarily at Predominately White Institutions and has focused on two separate identities: gender or race. Because of this, the unique intersections experienced by Women of Color (WoC) has been largely ignored. In addition, research on the experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer (LGBTQ+) physicists in a collegiate setting is virtually non-existent. This paper will present common themes in the idea of who does physics through the lens of WoC and female LGBTQ+ physicists currently or recently enrolled in a Physics Program at a large Hispanic Serving Institution. Participants engaged in semi-structured interviews and were asked questions about their perceptions of their physics environments, available support systems, and how they described a physicist. The analysis employs the theory of Intersectionality and examines the narratives through a critical race and queer lens to fully understand the lived experiences of our participants.

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Existing research on underrepresented/minority students focuses mainly on gender or race/ethnicity and ignores the intersection of identities of women of color and the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) students. This research is also typically conducted at Predominately White Institutions. A large number of physics degrees earned by racial minorities have been earned from Minority Serving Institutions. This project examines the personal narratives of women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women who exist at the intersection of these identities at Texas State, a Hispanic Serving Institution, to better understand the systems in place that helped them succeed through their physics degree. We define success to be recognition of self as a physicist and completion, or being near completion, of a physics degree. Participants reported that widely shared discussions around equity, department structures supporting collaboration, and a culture of teamwork helped them achieve success together

This paper aims to critically frame the successes and failings of scientific conferences designed for underrepresented undergraduate physics students as counterspaces in physics. The beginning of the paper outlines the necessity of these counterspaces’ existence as evidenced by the literature. We apply a critical lens to the experiences of minority students who have attended these conferences to examine the ways the events support their holistic identities or fail to do so.