Issue of April 6, 2012
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery
This week's issues:
1. Why Sexism, Racism, and Other Forms of Oppression Must be Considered Together
2. Survival Strategies for African American Astronomers and Astrophysicists
3. The Mighty Mathematician You've Never Heard Of
4. Giving Women the Access Code
6. New NASA Mentoring Program for Girls
7. M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship
8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues of the AASWOMEN Newsletter
1. Why Sexism, Racism, and Other Forms of Oppression Must Be Considered Together
From: Women_in_Astronomy_Blog
[This week’s guest blogger at the Women in Astronomy blog is Nick Murphy. Nick is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. His research is on solar physics, including the role of magnetic reconnection in solar eruptions. He is active in several community groups in the Boston area that are working for gender equity and racial justice. - eds.]
It is a long term historical trend that liberation movements tend to leave behind members of other marginalized groups. For example, as pointed out by authors such as bell hooks and Audre Lorde, the feminist movement through much of the last century focused on issues most relevant to white middle class women, and the Civil Rights movement did not sufficiently challenge sexism and patriarchy in the African American community. Both of these movements largely left behind women of color.
Intersectionality is the idea that different forms of oppression (such as sexism, racism, heterosexism, and transphobia) are interconnected and thus cannot be considered in isolation. The racism experienced by men of color differs from that experienced by women of color, and the way sexism plays itself out depends strongly on many other identities such as sexual orientation. Intersectionality is a powerful concept because it can help our community avoid excluding people who are members of multiple marginalized groups.
To read more:
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Back to top.2. Survival Strategies for African American Astronomers and Astrophysicists
From: Jedidah Isler [jedidah.isler_at_yale.edu]
Dr. Jarita Holbrook recently posted the following article to astro-ph. It's a timely article about the experience and coping mechanisms of African American Astronomy students (and minority students in general). It's a fantastic piece that should also be mentioned here and discussed extensively in Astronomy/Astrophysics departments across the country.
Abstract: The question of how to increase the number of women and minorities in astronomy has been approached from several directions in the United States including examination of admission policies, mentoring, and hiring practices. These point to departmental efforts to improve conditions for some of the students which has the overall benefit of improving conditions for all of the students. However, women and minority astronomers have managed to obtain doctorates even within the non-welcoming environment of certain astronomy and physics departments. I present here six strategies used by African American men and women to persevere if not thrive long enough to earn their doctorate. Embedded in this analysis is the idea of 'astronomy culture' and experiencing astronomy culture as a cross-cultural experience including elements of culture shock. These survival strategies are not exclusive to this small subpopulation but have been used by majority students, too.
To read more:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.0247
Back to top.3. The Mighty Mathematician You've Never Heard Of
From: Gerrit Verschuur [verschuur_at_aol.com]
Natalie Anger wrote this article for the New Your Times about a mathematician who united two pillars of physics, symmetry and the universal laws of conservation:
Scientists are a famously anonymous lot, but few can match in the depths of her perverse and unmerited obscurity the 20th-century mathematical genius Amalie Noether.
Albert Einstein called her the most “significant” and “creative” female mathematician of all time, and others of her contemporaries were inclined to drop the modification by sex. She invented a theorem that united with magisterial concision two conceptual pillars of physics: symmetry in nature and the universal laws of conservation. Some consider Noether’s theorem, as it is now called, as important as Einstein’s theory of relativity; it undergirds much of today’s vanguard research in physics, including the hunt for the almighty Higgs boson. Yet Noether herself remains utterly unknown, not only to the general public, but to many members of the scientific community as well.
When Dave Goldberg, a physicist at Drexel University who has written about her work, recently took a little “Noether poll” of several dozen colleagues, students and online followers, he was taken aback by the results. “Surprisingly few could say exactly who she was or why she was important,” he said. “A few others knew her name but couldn’t recall what she’d done, and the majority had never heard of her.”
To read more:
Currently you can read 10 NY Times articles a month for free.
Back to top.4. Giving Women the Access Code
From: Michael Rupen [mrupen_at_aoc.nrao.edu]
There is an interesting article in the NY Times today (3apr12) about (successful) efforts at Harvey Mudd College to increase the number of women graduating with computer science degrees. 2005: 22% of comp sci graduates were women; 2012: 40% -- pretty impressive!
There are lots of good ideas here: re-shaping the intro course to focus less on young male geeks; sending female freshmen to an annual women's programming conference; changing problem sets to address areas covering all of science, rather than just programming. Much of the article focuses on HM's president, Maria Klawe, which is also interesting, in looking at the career of a woman in math amp; administration.
To read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/giving-women-the-access-code.html
Currently you can read 10 NY Times articles a month for free.
Back to top.5. Toys for Girls and Boys
From: Jo Eliza Pitesky [jo.pitesky_at_jpl.nasa.gov]
At the website below, you pick one commercial for toys marketed to boys and one for toys marketed to girls. Then get a mashup of the video of one with the audio of the other.
I'm betting that other AASWOMEN Newsletter readers are going to find it simultaneously hilarious and horrifying.
http://www.genderremixer.com/html5
Back to top.6. New NASA Mentoring Program for Girls
From: L. Trouille_at_Women_in_Astronomy_Blog
NASA has a new mentoring program for 5th-8th grade girls through the Women_at_NASA program, called NASA G.I.R.L.S.
For a direct link to the program:
http://women.nasa.gov/nasa-g-i-r-l-s
For a great write-up and short interview about the program:
http://www.geekmom.com/2012/03/introducing-nasa-g-i-r-l-s-a-new-mentoring-program-for-girls
If you know girl who might be interested, NASA G.I.R.L.S. will begin accepting applications online by the beginning of May. They are due by June 15th, 2012. The program itself runs July 9th through August 10th, 2012.
Back to top.7. M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship
From: WIPHYS Apr 05, 2012
APS is now accepting applications for the M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship. This award is intended to enable women to resume physics research careers after an interruption. The deadline to apply is June 1, 2012. For more information and/or to apply, click here:
http://www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/blewett
Back to top.8. How to Submit
To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to
aaswomen_at_aas.org .
All material will be posted unless you tell us otherwise, including your email address.
Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.
Back to top.9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe
Join AAS Women List by email:
aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org
Be sure to follow the instructions in the confirmation email. (Just reply back to the email list)
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Back to top.10. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.
Ransom Stephens has written a great novel that derives from Emmy Noether, brought into the modern age. It is called the "God Particle" and I highly recommend it. He also gives talks about the real Emmy Noether, one of which you can watch here:
ReplyDeletehttp://epo.sonoma.edu/ea/training2010/RansomStephensEA2010.php