Issue of September 28, 2012
eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy
This week's issues:
1. Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds
2. Zen and the Art of Astronomy Research
3. Tips for Conducting Astronomy Outreach
4. Gender Inequality in Deliberative Participation
5. 3 Ways to Tell Girls How Cool Science Is
6. FYI: Why Do Girls Throw Like A Girl?
7. Why Men Fail
8. Awards and Funding Opportunities
10. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
12. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds
From: Rick Fienberg [rick.fienberg_at_aas.org] and Kathy Eastwood [kathy.eastwood_at_nau.edu]
[Several readers brought this study to our attention. Below are a few links to get you started. -Eds]
According to the New York Times, "Researchers found that university science professors widely regard female students as less competent than male ones." The full article is here:
Cosmic Variance Post by Sean Carroll:
The original study in PNAS (requires a subscription):
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/14/1211286109
Back to top.2. Zen and the Art of Astronomy Research
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
[Guest-post by John Johnson, professor of Astronomy in the Caltech Department of Astrophysics. His research is on the detection and characterization of exoplanets. This post is a re-post from astrobites. With the start of a new academic year, his career-life advice seemed particularly timely and useful. Read on!]
I had the pleasure of visiting the Harvard Center for Astrophysics back in February when I stopped through to give a colloquium. One of the CfA traditions is for the graduate students to treat the speaker to lunch. So on the day of my talk I hung out in a classroom with about two dozen graduate students where we munched on pizza and talked about everything from the difficulty of measuring stellar radial velocities at 1 m/s precision, to advice about applying for postdoctoral fellowships, to what it’s like to be a professor.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Back to top.3. Tips for Conducting Astronomy Outreach
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
[Julia Kamenetzky is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her research focuses on extragalactic submillimeter spectroscopy with Z-Spec and Herschel. She is active in CU’s Women in Astronomy group and is the recent winner of the CU Boulder Graduate School’s Dorothy Martin Doctoral Student Award for a student active in women’s issues.]
Role models are critically important for encouraging young people to pursue science and math careers, especially young girls. Astronomy is in a unique position because space is an incredibly interesting and awe-inspiring topic for the general public, yet most people don’t have a good understanding of what astronomers do. As I mentioned in a previous guest blog post, I recently started working with an afterschool STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) program for elementary school girls.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Back to top.4. Gender Inequality in Deliberative Participation
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]
[A study in the American Political Science Review that considers the impact of women's participation in group decision-making. -Eds]
Can men and women have equal levels of voice and authority in deliberation or does deliberation exacerbate gender inequality? Does increasing women's descriptive representation in deliberation increase their voice and authority? ... We find a substantial gender gap in voice and authority, but as hypothesized, it disappears under unanimous rule and few women, or under majority rule and many women. Deliberative design can avoid inequality by fitting institutional procedure to the social context of the situation.
To read more, please see
Back to top.5. 3 Ways to Tell Girls How Cool Science Is
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]
[This post by Kristina Chew describes three projects to attract girls to science, including WitsOn!, which was featured on the Women in Astronomy Blog on September 20, 2012. -Eds]
"I would have gone into science." A student, a humanities major, once said these words to me as we talked about her post-college plans. It was only midway through college that she had learned that the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields offer so many possibilities for careers. I gathered that her high school had not encouraged the study of science, at least among girls.
Here are three ways that scientists, engineers and women in the tech world are seeking to ensure that girls don’t find themselves with such regrets.
To read more, please see
http://www.care2.com/causes/3-great-ideas-girls-science.html
Back to top.6. FYI: Why Do Girls Throw Like A Girl?
From: Kelley M. Hess [hess_at_astro.wisc.edu]
[Another take on the nature-vs-nuture debate. -Eds]
Tagline: The genders are more alike than they are different, with one notable exception.
You don't need to look any further than last week's news cycle to see proof that a girl can throw a ball: Erin DiMeglio, the first female quarterback to play high school football in Florida, made a splash by taking a spot on her team. But some research indicates it's an uphill battle.
To read more, please see
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-09/fyi-do-men-and-women-throw-ball-differently
Back to top.7. Why Men Fail
From: Joan T Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]
[An opinion piece by David Brooks about the traits needed for professional success and how they may be changing from "favoring" men to "favoring" women. -Eds]
You’re probably aware of the basic trends. The financial rewards to education have increased over the past few decades, but men failed to get the memo.
To read more, please see
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/brooks-why-men-fail.html?emc=eta1
Back to top.8. Awards and Funding Opportunities
From: AWIS Washington Wire September 2012 - Issue II
* 2013 NSF Alan T. Waterman Award Call for Nominations
http://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/waterman.jsp
* Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences at University of Nebraska - Lincoln
http://wophy.unl.edu/info.shtml
* ADVANCE Program Solicitation
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12584/nsf12584.htm
* Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellowship
* NSF's Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative
http://www.nsf.gov/career-life-balance/suppfunds.jsp
* Opportunity for Scientists to Collaborate with European Colleagues
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=124845&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
* The Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Program
http://www.facultyforthefuture.net
Back to top.9. Job Opportunities
* Two Assistant Professor Positions, Physical Sciences (including Astrophysics), UC San Diego
Note a specific emphasis on contributions to diversity, including awareness of inequities faced by underrepresented groups, a demonstrated track record in mentoring, teaching, or outreach aimed at underrepresented groups, and/or specific plans to contribute to diversity.
http://careers.physicstoday.org/jobs#/detail/4878128
* Tenure Track Faculty Position in Theoretical Astrophysics, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland College Park
http://jobs.umd.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=57797
* Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Middlebury College Department of Physics (emphasis in Observational Astronomy/Astrophysics)
http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/administration/employment/phys_tt
* Two Tenure-track Faculty Positions in Astronomy/Astrophysics at Ohio University
http://www.nsbp.org/en/jobs/v/980
* Assistant Professor of Physics at Agnes Scott College
http://www.agnesscott.edu/employment/faculty-openings/physics-professor.html
* Assistant/Associate Project Scientist Position, UC Berkeley
http://astro.berkeley.edu/resources/jobs/project-scientist.html
* National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
* Marie Curie Fellowship
http://www.caroline-angelard.com/marie-curie-fellowship.php
Back to top.10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send an email to aaswomen_at_aas.org
All material will be posted unless you tell us otherwise, including your email address.
When submitting a job posting for inclusion in the newsletter, please include a one-line description and a link to the full job posting.
Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.
Back to top.11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
Join AAS Women List by email:
Send email to aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have subscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.
Be sure to follow the instructions in the confirmation email. (Just reply back to the email list)
To unsubscribe by email:
Send email to aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have UNsubscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.
To join or leave AASWomen via web, or change your membership settings:
https://groups.google.com/a/aas.org/group/aaswlist
You will have to create a Google Account if you do not already have one, using
https://accounts.google.com/newaccount?hl=en
Google Groups Subscribe Help:
http://support.google.com/groups/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=46606
Back to top.12. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
--
Back to top.
No comments :
Post a Comment