Is participation in public engagement programs an integral part of shaping physics students' identity?

In a time when the line between facts and opinion is blurring, public engagement from physics departments has become an important task. In the last few years, funding agencies are highlighting the importance of engaging the public's interest in physics and reaching out to diverse populations through the support of programs and public campaigns to attract students to physics. However, these recruitment strategies will not suffice if the culture of physics departments does not become more inclusive. Informal physics programs are often designed to address issues of representation, by providing opportunities and spaces to build participants' physics identity. In university settings, we are seeing an increase of physics students choosing to participate in public engagement activities. However, the impact of participation, in these programs, has on the facilitators (university students) is largely understudied. In this study, we seek to understand university students' negotiation of their physics identity after participation in informal physics programs.