Issue of December 20, 2013
eds: Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner
This week's issues:
1. Survey on Two-Body Careers in Astronomy
2. One Person’s Advice on the Two-Body Problem
3. Values Affirmation and You: What You Deeply Care About Affects Your Ability to Do Science (Now Featuring Peer Review!)
4. Faculty Search Committee
5. Society of Women Engineers: 2014 Call for Award Nominations
6. Eight Campuses to Host Conference for Undergrad Women
7. UK Study Finds Women Scientists Get Fewer Grants, Less Funding Than Male Counterparts
8. Job Opportunities
9. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
11. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Survey on Two-Body Careers in Astronomy
From: Erica Rodgers [erodgers_at_spacescience.org] and Nick Murphy [namurphy_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
The CSWA is conducting a survey on two-body careers, especially the difficulties that dual career couples face when trying to find employment in geographic proximity to each other. The goal of this survey is to gauge the extent of these difficulties in astronomy and closely related fields. The survey is available at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSWATwoBodyCareers
This survey may be taken by astronomers worldwide and will remain open until January 31, 2014.
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2. One Person’s Advice on the Two-Body Problem
From: Annika Peter via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
My husband and I recently found a long-term solution to our two-body problem after seven years of hopscotching through job seasons. When we entered into the job season last year with the goal of permanence in mind, I asked many faculty people for advice on how to approach the job search as a couple. The advice was all over the place. From this experience, I gleaned that there is no established protocol for solving the two-body problem; each couple's set of circumstances makes each search and solution look a little different. And actually, this is one of the lessons I would like to impart to you — there is no one, straightforward, established path to a two-body solution.
Nevertheless, there were a few bits of advice that we found extremely useful and appeared to be pretty generally applicable, and there were some things we learned along the way. The focus of this advice is on academic solutions at the faculty/staff level. However, a lot of this advice is applicable at a postdoc level, or at the faculty level even if you are looking for only one job, not two!
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/12/one-persons-advice-on-two-body-problem.html
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3. Values Affirmation and You: What You Deeply Care About Affects Your Ability to Do Science (Now Featuring Peer Review!)
From: Sarah Ballard via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
It was only several years into graduate school that I learned that language already existed to describe my academic experience in science. I’m an unusual astronomer in some ways, having arrived in the field only after devoting my early undergraduate studies to Peace and Conflict Studies and Gender Studies. I was inculcated in the early years of college with language that describes the human experience. I was literally tested on phrases such as “intersectionality of oppression” and “safe space.” Value is assigned in these disciplines, in the form of grades, to a student’s ability to articulate ideas of bias and privilege. I wrote essays in exam rooms, after poring over assigned articles, on how wrongs get righted within human group dynamics. I thought and wrote about the activities people undertake to restore feelings of dignity and agency to underserved groups: this was once my major.
Let me describe to you here why this is relevant to you, an astrophysicist. Let me describe a way that you can leverage the knowledge other fields accrue about imperfect human functioning under high pressure. Let me make the argument to you that reflection on self-worth can alleviate distress and underperformance in yourself, your colleagues, your mentees.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/12/values-affirmation-and-you-what-you.html
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4. Faculty Search Committee
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
What can we do about unconscious bias? First, we have to be aware that it exists. Then we need to establish policies and put them into practice. Finally, there needs to be accountability. We can illustrate this process with an example: A Faculty Search Committee. How do we typically start a job search for a new faculty member? There are several standard steps: (1) the department chair forms a search committee; (2) the committee writes an ad targeting a specific sub-discipline; (3) the position is advertised; and (4) the committee members go about their business until the applications begin to pour in.
If you follow this standard practice, odds are that the racial and gender diversity of your applicant pool will look a lot like your current dept. If you want the pool to be more diverse, you have to work a bit harder. Your job will start even before the formation of the committee with a step zero: (0) recruitment of the applicant pool. Here are some pointers to consider during this all-important step zero: recruit proactively year-round; recruit from wider range of institutions; recruit specifically for underrepresented groups; use “open searches” (broad vs. narrow job definitions); and if possible, advertise for multiple positions at once (cluster hiring).
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/12/faculty-search-committee.html
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5. Society of Women Engineers: 2014 Call for Award Nominations
From: Matthew Greenhouse [matthew.a.greenhouse_at_nasa.gov]
Is your research supported by brilliant engineers? If so, consider recognizing them here:
http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/images/awards/2014/FY14_SWE_Awards_Packet.pdf
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6. Eight Campuses to Host Conference for Undergrad Women
From: Nick Murphy [namurphy_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
By Michael Lucibella
Eight campuses across the country will host the ninth annual Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) in January of 2014. Over two days, more than a thousand female physics students will have the chance to network with other women in physics, a rare opportunity in a field that remains predominantly male.
"Just that experience of having 100 undergraduate women together is very empowering to them," said Mette Gaarde, a professor at Louisiana State University and organizer of their conference. "I think a lot of women come with the sense that they are very different because they have chosen to go into math and physics."
To read more, please see
http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201312/eight.cfm
To learn more about these conferences, please see
http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/cuwip.cfm
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7. UK Study Finds Women Scientists Get Fewer Grants, Less Funding Than Male Counterparts
From: Nick Murphy [namurphy_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
By Philip Ross
When it comes to gender inequality in scientific research, the cards are historically and indisputably stacked against women. "Despite efforts to narrow the gap, disparities still exist in hiring, earnings, funding and publishing," Ars Technica noted. With that said, it might come as no surprise that a recent study found that female scientists in the UK whose work involves infectious diseases got fewer grants and received less funding than their male colleagues.
To read more, please see
http://www.ibtimes.com/sexism-science-uk-study-finds-women-scientists-get-fewer-grants-less-funding-male-counterparts
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8. 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
* PhD studentship, Curtin University, Australia, working on detecting the Epoch of Reionization with low-frequency radio interferometers:
http://scholarships.curtin.edu.au/scholarships/scholarship.cfm?id=1677
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9. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
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.
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.
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10. 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.
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11. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to aaswlist+unsubscribe@aas.org.
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