Issue of September 20, 2013
eds: Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner
This week's issues:
1. Invitation to Subscribe to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
2. Advice: Being Ignored in a Meeting
3. On The Math Achievement Gender "Gap"
4. Postdoc-hood & Infertility: Part 2
5. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Patent Examiner
6. Calling Senior Women Radio Astronomers
7. UK Astronomy - an old-boy's network?
8. The Women Who Mapped the Universe and Still Couldn't Get Any Respect
10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
11. Access to Past Issues of the AASWOMEN Newsletter
1. Invitation to Subscribe to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
From: The Editors [aaswomen_at_aas.org]
The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) strives to create a climate of equal opportunity in hiring, promotion, salary, and in access to research opportunities and infrastructure at all levels within the field of astronomy ranging from undergraduate and graduate programs and then throughout a career in teaching, research, and/or other astronomy-related fields such as public outreach.
AASWOMEN is CSWA's weekly electronic newsletter. As a new academic year begins, we invite you to help us expand our community of readers and contributors. Please forward this issue to any new students, post-docs, and scientists that may be interested.
Join AASWOMEN List by email:
Send email to aaswlist+subscribe@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@aas.org from the address you want to have UNsubscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to aaswlist+unsubscribe@aas.org.
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
The CSWA also has an active facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Committee-on-the-Status-of-Women-in-Astronomy/43977374494
Back to top.2. Advice: Being Ignored in a Meeting
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Have you ever been in this situation: you're sitting in a meeting and make what you think is a great suggestion; you're ignored. Ten minutes later, someone else makes a similar suggestion and everyone thinks it's just the greatest idea. Are you invisible? Did you imagine it? Were you really speaking out loud? How can women deal with being ignored and/or having their ideas dismissed? Of course, this can happen to men too!
To read the suggestions, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/09/advice-being-ignored-in-meeting.html
Back to top.3. On The Math Achievement Gender "Gap"
From: John Johnson via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
In previous posts I have written in support of affirmative action under the assumption that "men and women are equally capable of succeeding as professional astronomers. There is no inherent (intrinsic) difference in mental capacity, creativity, ability to learn, or any other factor that plays into the success of an astronomer." However, after digging around a bit, it turns out there is a difference in mathematical ability between men and women (Hyde, Fennema amp; Lamon 1990), and it's often cited as a reason why there aren't many women in "hard core" science fields. But it doesn't really work that way; the achievement "gap" is not at all what some would imply (h/t Slate).
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-math-achievement-gender-gap.html
Back to top.4. Postdoc-hood & Infertility: Part 2
From: Anonymous via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
A few weeks ago I posted about my husband and my quest for fertility. The emails and conversations I’ve had since have been heart-warming. It’s so helpful to hear other people’s stories; those who have happily come out the other side, those who have adopted, and those who are in the thick of it now. It’s also been further confirmation that there are a lot of women and men in STEM juggling infertility issues and career uncertainties. My best wishes goes out to all of you.
In the most general sense, this experience has been a good reminder of the obvious – people present a certain version of themselves at work, but who knows what kinds of obstacles and hardships they’re dealing with outside of work. Remembering this has made me more empathetic in my workplace interactions, treating people with extra gentleness and give.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/09/postdoc-hood-infertility-part-2_18.html
Back to top.5. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Patent Examiner
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.
Below is our interview with Cara Rakowski, an astronomer turned Patent Examiner for the US Patent and Trademark Office.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/09/career-profiles-astronomer-to-patent.html
Back to top.6. Calling Senior Women Radio Astronomers
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
On September 11, 2013, the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) announced the creation of a fellowship for senior women astronomers. The fellowship will start accepting applications in February 2014 for an outstanding candidate to visit ICRAR and interact with researchers and graduate students.
To read about this opportunity, please see
http://phys.org/news/2013-09-women-astronomers.html
Back to top.7. UK Astronomy - an old-boy's network?
From: Carole Mundell [cgm_at_astro.livjm.ac.uk]
The UK's funding agency that covers astronomy - the Science and Technology Facilities Council - runs an annual summer school for new graduate students embarking on their PhDs in the UK. This year's summer school has excelled in failing to provide any women speakers. The UK has numerous outstanding women astrophysicsts, who are world leaders in a wide range of subjects and represent a range of age and background, so the absence of women speakers cannot be explained by a lack of talented women! How sad that the new graduate students this year will think that only men can succeed in astronomy.
To read more, please see
http://telescoper.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/welcome-to-astronomy-unless-youre-female
Back to top.8. The Women Who Mapped the Universe and Still Couldn't Get Any Respect
From: Nick Murphy [namurphy_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
"In 1881, Edward Charles Pickering, director of the Harvard Observatory, had a problem: the volume of data coming into his observatory was exceeding his staff’s ability to analyze it. He also had doubts about his staff’s competence–especially that of his assistant, who Pickering dubbed inefficient at cataloging. So he did what any scientist of the latter 19th century would have done: he fired his male assistant and replaced him with his maid, Williamina Fleming. Fleming proved so adept at computing and copying that she would work at Harvard for 34 years–eventually managing a large staff of assistants.
"So began an era in Harvard Observatory history where women—more than 80 during Pickering’s tenure, from 1877 to his death in 1919— worked for the director, computing and cataloging data. Some of these women would produce significant work on their own; some would even earn a certain level of fame among followers of female scientists. But the majority are remembered not individually but collectively, by the moniker Pickering’s Harem."
To read more, please see
Back to top.9. Job Opportunities
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease
-Faculty Position in Astronomy or Physics Education Research, Western Washington University: http://careers.aps.org/jobs/5624700/tenure-track-assistant-professor-position
-Postdoctoral positions in Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University: http://www.princeton.edu/astro/resources/job/jo/index.xml
-Assistant Professor in Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz: http://apo.ucsc.edu/academic_employment/jobs/JPF00057-14.pdf
-Executive Director, Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP): http://www.astrosociety.org/society-news/asp-executive-director-opening
Back to top.10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, email 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. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
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