Issue of April 18, 2014
eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, amp; Nicolle Zellner
This week's issues:
2. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Staff Scientist
3. A Call to Nominate! And, Self-Nominate Too!
4. Women Earn Less Social Security
5. Study Finds Science Teachers Favor Males in Class
6. Presidential Proclamation - National Equal Pay Day 2014
7. Executive Orders to Help Close the Gender Pay Disparities
8. Gender Pay Gap in Academe May Not be What Matters
9. Careers in Astronomy in Germany and the UK
10. Changing the Face of Astronomy Research
12. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
14. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Strength in Numbers
From: Katja Poppenhaeger via Joan Schmelz at womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Today’s guest blogger is Katja Poppenhaeger. Katja is a Sagan postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Her research interests are exoplanets and their host stars, with a focus on stellar magnetic activity and its effects on exoplanetary atmospheres. She also is the organizer of the CfA's Women In Science Chats, a series of informal discussions where female CfA postdocs and graduate students can meet with visiting scientists.
A few weeks ago my colleague, Mohaddesseh Azimlu, mentioned how great it would be to have a group photo of all the female astronomers and astronomy students at the CfA. She was about to leave for a new career opportunity in Canada, so we hurried to invite everyone for a photo shot on a cold February day. We got an overwhelmingly positive response from the astronomers: We had 55 people join the picture, and 17 more who could not attend in person sent in photos of themselves to be added to the picture. Here's the result:
While many people were excited about this picture, women and men alike, we also heard a few criticisms: Why is this group picture exclusive? Why not also organize group pictures for the men, or all scientists? And: Do we still need this?
Here's why I think we need pictures like this:
To see the image and read the rest of the blog item, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Back to top.2. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Staff Scientist
From: Laura Trouille at 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 an astronomer turned staff scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). If you have questions, suggestions, advice to share, etc. about this career path, please leave a comment below.
For access to all our Career Profile Project interviews, please visit
http://aas.org/jobs/career-profiles .
We plan to post a new career profile to this blog every first and third Thursday of the month.
What field do you currently work in? astronomy (now retired)
What is the job title for your current position? SAO astrophysicist (now retired)
What is the name of your company/organization/institution? SAO
What city, state, and country do you live in? Work in?
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Back to top.3. A Call to Nominate! And, Self-Nominate Too!
From: David Charbonneau at womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
The time has come for you to nominate! Nominate, I say, be it thy colleague, or thyself!
The AAS Prizes are important. They are our community's most visible means to foster an acknowledge excellence in research, education, and service.
Yet some of the research prizes remain overwhelming exclusive of women.
I am particularly concerned about the early-career research awards, namely the ...
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Back to top.4. Women Earn Less Social Security
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
Of all that are on social security, women make up 60% but receive 76% that of what men receive. One reason is because women typically have lower earnings, they take time out of the workforce to care for family members, and gender inequality in wages, especially in the sciences. How can working women prepare for the future? According to Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin, working women need to save their money and spend below their means. To read more about the advice from the Acting Social Security Commissioner, a woman, please see the NPR news article
Back to top.5. Study Finds Science Teachers Favor Males in Class
From: WiPHYS, April 15, 2014
Science teachers spend 39% more time class time directly addressing boys than girls, a study finds as discussed in Enhancing Adolescents' MOtivation for Science. Tools used in measuring the difference include pre- and post-surveys and responses when prompted by pagers in class. To read more about the study and results, please see
Back to top.6. Presidential Proclamation - National Equal Pay Day 2014
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
President Obama declared April 8, 2014 as National Equal Pay Day. He calls upon all Americans to recognize the value of women's skills, women's contributions, acknowledge wage inequality and its injustice, and join in efforts to achieve equal pay. This date is chosen because women have to work this far into 2014 to earn what a male in her profession earned in 2013.
To read the proclamation, please read the White House press release at
To read how the Department of Education is responding, especially for women and girls in science, please see
http://www.ed.gov/blog/2014/04/equal-pay-day-2014
Back to top.7. Executive Orders to Help Close the Gender Pay Disparities
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
On Tuesday April 15, 2014, President Obama signed two executive orders to help close the pay disparities between genders. One order was to help women learn whether they had been cheated in receiving equal pay for equal work. The Paycheck Fairness Act was sent to the Senate on Wednesday. To read more, please see
Back to top.8. Gender Pay Gap in Academe May Not be What Matters
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
New data has been released by the American Association of University Professors, which shows that there is gender wage gap, but not as much as in other careers. Female full professors, associate professors, lecturers, and instructors make 90%, 93%, 91%, 88%, and 96%, respectively, of what male peers make. At the lower end of the faculty-pay scale at doctoral universities, for every five instructors, three are female. Thus the average salary for all male faculty at doctoral universities are pulled upward by the disproportionate number of male full professors. Similarly, the average salary for all female faculty at doctoral universities are dragged down by the disproportionate number of female lecturers and instructors. The statistics are echoed at two-year colleges as well. Therefore, male faculty occupy more higher paid ranks, especially at research universities. So what may be what matters is the hiring practices 20 - 30 years ago.
To read more on these new statistics and analyses, please see
Back to top.9. Careers in Astronomy in Germany and the UK
From: Janine Fohlmeister [janine@ari.uni-heidelberg.de]
In a study published in the April issue of Astronomy and Geophysics, we discuss the outcomes of surveys addressing the career situation of astronomers in Germany and the UK, finding social and cultural differences between communities as well as gender bias in both.
It appeared on the arXiv today under
http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.2610
The journal reference is
http://astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org/content/55/2/2.31
Back to top.10. Changing the Face of Astronomy Research
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
To increase the number of minorities and women in astronomy research, City University of New York has started a scholarship and one-on-one mentoring program to the underrepresented populations. The program is called AstroCom NYC. To read how CUNY is planning on changing the face of astronomy research, please see
http://www.npr.org/2014/04/02/297714630/changing-the-face-of-astronomy-research
Back to top.11. 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
* Lecturer, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology: http://careers.rit.edu/faculty enter 1007BR in “Search Openings”
* Astronomy/Astrophysics Instructors for 3-week summer youth program at Johns Hopkins University http://cty.jhu.edu/jobs/summer/index.html
Back to top.12. 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.
Back to top.13. 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)
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Back to top.14. 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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