Friday, March 13, 2015

AASWOMEN Newsletter for March 13, 2015

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of March 13, 2015
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer

This week's issues:


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From:  Wanda Diaz Merced via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

In the year 1999, an advisor told me to ponder changing careers. At the same time, noticing that I could no longer identify the location of obvious items in my house, a friend advised me to take control of my health, visit the rethynologist, and learn orientation and mobility. I could identify certain things while the sun was transiting my sky, but during the night I was completely blind. 

Read more about what defines “the norm” at


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From: Kelsi Singer via omeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com

Announcement of the 2015 Women in Planetary Science Networking Event!

This event is open to all interested persons, and we will spend most of the time discussing the topics such as negotiating a new position, alternative careers, and the two body problem.

When: Wednesday, March 18th, 2015; 6:00 to ~7:30 pm
Where: Montgomery Ballrooms A-C (in Conference Venue - Woodlands Waterway Marriott)

Find more information at 


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From: Rachel Pacifico [rpacifico_at_us.loreal.com]

This is a friendly reminder that applications for the L’Oréal USA For Women In Science fellowship program are due on Friday, March 20, 2015.

The L’Oréal USA For Women In Science fellowship program will award five post‐doctoral women scientists in the United States this year with grants of up to $60,000 each. Applicants are welcome from a variety of fields, including the life and physical/material sciences, technology (including computer science), engineering, and mathematics.

The application and more information on the L’Oreal USA For Women in Science program can be found at 


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From: Leslie Lowes [leslie.l.lowes_at_jpl.nasa.gov]

NASA is accepting applications from science and engineering post-docs, recent PhDs, and doctoral students for its 27th Annual Planetary Science Summer School, which will be held in one single session in summer 2015 (August 10-14 only) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. During the program and pre-session webinars, student teams will carry out the equivalent of an early mission concept study, prepare a proposal authorization review presentation, present it to a review board, and receive feedback.  

Applications are due April 10, 2015. Partial financial support is available for a limited number of individuals. 

Further information is available at  


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From: Virginia Gewin [gewin_at_nasw.org]

Archaeologist Maureen Meyers never spoke up about the sexual harassment she endured from male colleagues and superiors at field sites and elsewhere during her 20-year career. She rebuffed a male colleague’s propositions, leading to his retaliatory dismissal of her diabetes-related diet and medication requirements on a later field excursion. A male superior once forced her to walk ahead of him at a field site “to find the electric fences first” and made her listen to his lurid stories.

Surveys of sexual harassment and assault during field research and on campus reveal a hitherto secret problem.

Read more at 


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From: Anonymous 


“Years after I was first hired, someone involved in the selection process revealed that I would never have been offered a job had they been recruiting one person at a time, but they had four vacancies, so decided ‘to take a punt on the weirdo’, or words to that effect.”

Read about a different perspective on cluster hiring at


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From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

Two new “studies suggest that if there were more female math and science teachers in middle and high school, more girls would study these subjects in college, and that providing female role models earlier in life – before students get to college – might be one of the more effective ways to encourage more girls to pursue higher level math and science.”

Read more at 


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From: Nancy Morrison [nancyastro126_at_gmail.com]

The problem with separate toys for girls and boys
What started our obsession with assigning gender to playthings, and how can parents combat it?

From The Boston Globe Magazine, February 27, 2015

By Rebecca Hains

'... Recent research demonstrates today's toys are divided by gender at historically unprecedented levels. "There are now far fewer non-gendered items available for children than in any prior era," says Elizabeth Sweet, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at Davis — even fewer than 50 years ago, when gender discrimination was socially acceptable.

'How can this be? The answer lies in significant media industry changes during the 1980s, when the Federal Communications Commission’s television deregulation removed longstanding limitations on children’s advertising ...'

Read more at


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Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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