AASWomen Newsletter Sept 6, 2024

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of September 6, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, Hannah Jang-Condell, and Ferah Munshi

[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]

This week's issues:

1. Crosspost: Maggie Aderin-Pocock on diversity: 'It's hard to find an argument against it'
2. Women in Astronomy Citizen Science
3. 'She was right and they were wrong'
4. Women and Girls in Astronomy
5. Head count: statistics about women in astronomy
6. Smithsonian National Air and Space Events
7. AfAS
8. Investigating experiences of a Black woman in physics and astronomy
9. Larger teams worsen academic career prospects
10. Brooke Owens Fellowship
11. CHARA proposals
12. 245th AAS meeting call for splinter proposals
13. 2024 Physics and Astronomy Faculty Teaching Institute
14. Deadlines
15. Job Opportunities
16. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
17. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
18. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

Crosspost: Maggie Aderin-Pocock on diversity: ‘It’s hard to find an argument against it’

By Audrey Thompson, for Nature

The space scientist and broadcaster describes how she deals with racism,
taps dyslexia’s hidden powers and
inspires disadvantaged students to pursue science careers.

Credit: Steven May/Alamy (nature.com)

Maggie Aderin-Pocock is the most famous Black female scientist in the United Kingdom. She has co-hosted the BBC’s long-running astronomy television programme The Sky at Night since 2014, and earned a BAFTA nomination (from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for her work on the children’s programme Stargazing in 2016.

She studied at Imperial College London, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1990 and a PhD in mechanical engineering in 1994. She has worked on many space-technology projects, notably on a number of satellites to monitor climate change and on NIRSpec, one of four scientific instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that allow it to survey extremely distant galaxies.

Over the past 20 years, Aderin-Pocock has also focused on science communication, encouraging under-represented groups to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. So far, she has given talks to more than 500,000 people globally.

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02303-x

AASWomen Newsletter for August 30, 2024

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 30, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, and Hannah Jang-Condell

[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]

This week's issues:

1. Meet the Editors of the AASWomen Newsletter
2. ‘If you can see it, you can be it’: Women in aerospace
3. In Early Science Journalism, These Women Were Writing for Their Lives
4. How I keep media interviews focused on my science, not my gender
5. Young Astronomer Wins Stellafane Youth Outreach Award
6. Conferences for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (CU*iP) 2025 applications now online
7. Lack of women winners for million-euro science prize draws protests
8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

Meet the Editors of the AASWomen Newsletter

Since at least 1991, the weekly AASWomen newsletter has included tidbits of information of relevance to women in science and women in astronomy in particular, as well as job postings. 

• To submit an item to the AASWomen newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_lists.aas.org. When submitting a job posting for inclusion in the newsletter, please include a one-line description and a link to the full job posting. 
  
  
• To subscribe, go to https://aas.simplelists.com/aaswlist/subscribe/ and enter your name and email address, and click Subscribe. You will be sent an email with a link to click to confirm subscription.

Contact the Editors at aaswomen_at_lists.aas.org (replacing _at_ with @).

Thank you to our past editors (more than two dozen!) for your volunteer work! Current editors are

Name: Jeremy Bailin
Institution: University of Alabama
Specialty Research Area: Galaxy Formation, Globular Clusters
Something Interesting: Former radio DJ 

Name: Sethanne Howard

Institution: US Naval Observatory/retired Chief of the Nautical Almanac Office

Specialty Research Area: galaxy dynamics

Something Interesting: painting; history of women in science with book The Hidden Giants

Name: Ferah Munshi

Institution: George Mason University

Specialty Research Area: Galaxy Formation/Evolution; Dwarf Galaxies; Cosmological Simulations

Something Interesting: I once had to carry a note through TSA stating I had a good reason for being radioactive. If we ever meet, ask me why! I also have two adorable pugs named Ivan and Charlie. 

Name: Nicolle Zellner

Institution: Albion College

Specialty Research Area: Planetary Science, Impacts, Lunar Samples

Something Interesting: I have been a dancer since I was 3 years old. I am the Advisor for the Albion College Dance Team and even performed with them during a basketball half-time!

Thanks also to Hannah Jang-Condell, who is serving a second term as an editor for AASWomen.

AASWomen Newsletter for August 23, 2024

AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy     
Issue of August 23, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, and Hannah Jang-Condell

[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]

This week's issues:

August 26, 2026 (Image: oprahdaily.com)

1. Meet Central American-Caribbean Astronomy Bridge Program Fellows - Part 9    
2. Register for the Equity in Graduate Admissions Workshops
3. Women's Equality Day, August 26 2024  
4. Gender bias might be working at level of whole disciplines  
5. How do we bring more diversity to STEM?    
6. Job Opportunities
7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

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Meet Central American-Caribbean Astronomy Bridge Program Fellows - Part 9

The Central American - Caribbean Bridge in Astrophysics (Cenca Bridge) is a nonprofit organization established in the state of Tennessee in the United States with the mission to create and develop astronomy research opportunities in Central America and the Caribbean. Opportunities to pursue astrophysics in the region are few with only a handful of programs offering master’s in physics with a concentration in astronomy.  Cenca Bridge connects undergraduates from Central America and the Caribbean to mentors and advisors overseas in hope that they have the choice to pursue astrophysics as a profession. Every year, Cenca Bridge holds the remote internship program, where undergraduate students from the region apply to be selected for a 3-month long paid research internship. As the only organization to provide a paid research remote internship, it is important to highlight the contributions that many women in astrophysics from Central America and the Caribbean have already contributed to our field.

In this series, we will highlight selected fellows. If you'd like to learn more about the program and ways you can get involved please visit https://cencabridgeastro.weebly.com/.

In France, during one of many travels.

My name is Thara Caba. I am 24 years old and I was born in the Dominican Republic. I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Physics at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. 

How did you first become interested in astronomy or planetary science?
I first became interested in astronomy by watching TV shows like Doctor Who and Cosmos. In my undergrad I had the opportunity to do my thesis at the University of PadovaUniversity of Padova in Italy and reaffirmed my love for astronomy and astrophysics and that this is the path I want to follow.

What are your aspirations?
I want to complete a PhD and establish the first astrophysics research group in my country and give Dominican students the opportunity to do research in this field without having to leave the country. 

What are you currently working on?
I recently started my Master’s Degree in Astrophysics and Space Science at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. It is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters program, so every semester I am in a different country. I am studying with a very diverse group of people from all over the world. In my Bachelor’s program, I did research in astroparticle physics and would love to continue on that field.

What else is important to you and how do you make time for it?
My family is very important to me and with a 6-hour time difference, the only way to make time is by having a very strict to-do list (haha!).

I also love traveling and I’ve been very privileged that science has allowed me to do so. :)

What community issues are important to you and why?
Student engagement and the participation of young people in policy making is very important to me. Time and time again, we have seen what happens when young people fall to apathy and don’t engage in the world around them. I recently started working with the Office of Astronomy for Development to see how physics and astronomy students can be incorporated and engaged in their projects. I also worked on the Executive Committee of the International Association of Physics Students and got to meet lots of physics students from around the world and help different student associations. 

During my Bachelor’s degree, I was one of the few women in it and now in my Master’s program, I am the only Black student, so I am also very passionate about the engagement of underrepresented groups in science, With the help of the Office of Astronomy for Development, I had the opportunity to organize an event in the Dominican Republic to encourage women and girls to study astronomy and physics. 

Finally, access to resources and education is very important to me. Astronomy or astrophysics research programs like the Central-American Caribbean Bridge are very important and I am happy that this year I am mentoring one of the students participating in the program. 

Presenting a poster at the
Giambiagi Winter School on Cosmology
at the University of Buenos Aires.

What are your near-future plans?

After surviving my Master’s studeis and the craziness of changing what country I live in every 6 months, I would love to spend some quiet time with my family. After that, I hope to start applying for PhD programs.

AASWomen Newsletter for August 16, 2024

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 16, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, and Hannah Jang-Condell

[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]

This week's issues:

1. Researcher Parents Pay EXTRA When Attending Conferences
2. Cross-post: Kiana McFadden is the 2023 DPS-NSBP Speaker Awardee
3. Women in astronomy gathered in Cape Town
4. The Taliban said women could study - three years on they still can't
5. Book Review: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Astronomy: A Modern History by Dr. Jörg Matthias Determann
6. Job Opportunities
7. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.