Women In Astronomy: AASWOMEN Newsletter for March 18, 2016

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of March 18, 2016
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Elysse Voyer, & Heather Flewelling

This week's issues:

1. CSWA's Status magazine for January 2016 is now available

From: Nancy Morrison [nancyastro126_at_gmail.com]

The January 2016 issue of the CSWA's magazine, Status, is now available in PDF by download from this page:

http://www.aas.org/cswa/STATUS.html

2. Struggling Against Gender Bias in STEM Field

From: Christina Richey via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Dr. Ramin A. Skibba studied physics and philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 2000 with a B.S. and B.A. He completed his master's degree and Ph.D. in Physics & Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh, with Ravi Sheth as his advisor. His thesis was titled "Marked Statistics and the Environmental Dependence of Galaxy Formation". After that, he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, and continued working on large-scale structure and galaxy formation as a postdoctoral researcher with Frank van den Bosch ...]

Suppose that two astrophysicists with similar education, experience, and accomplishments-let's call them Dr. X and Dr. Y-apply for a tenure-track faculty position. If Dr. X is female and Dr. Y is male, and if the selection committee members have conscious or unconscious gender bias, then, unfortunately, one might expect it to be more likely that Dr. Y would be offered the position. But a controversial and influential new paper argues the opposite. In the title of their April 2015 article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Wendy M. Williams and Stephen J. Ceci, both psychologists and full professors at Cornell University, claim, "National hiring experiments reveal 2:1 faculty preference for women on STEM tenure track."

3. In-Reach/Outreach

From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Today's guest blogger is Terri Brandt. Terri is a high energy astrophysicist working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Studying cosmic rays and gamma-rays has taken her from Ohio to France to the ends of the Earth (Antarctica!). She helps organize diversity events at Goddard and has filled spare time with, among other things, ultimate frisbee, including cofounding one of The Ohio State teams.]

Those times you need an ear, or a shoulder.
We've all had them.
When support, a space to share, to rail at life's injustices and be
Heard
are as necessary as air.

People in underrepresented groups, facing higher frequencies of injustice, often need these spaces more often or more profoundly than members of majority groups. Be it outright *ism or the accumulation of microaggressions, having such spaces can help underrepresented groups' members remember why they began this journey, can help them renew their commitment to it or to celebrate the beginning of a new journey.

4. ASP Board Statement on Harassment

From: Alex Rudolph [alrudolph_at_cpp.edu]

Recently, multiple serious cases of sexual harassment in astronomy occurring at several major universities have been exposed and reported. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the oldest astronomical society in the U.S., strongly condemns sexual harassment, as well as any form of harassment or discrimination in the astronomical community. We also unequivocally support the victims of abuse who bravely speak out against such behavior, often at the risk of their own professional careers.

Read the full statment at

https://www.astrosociety.org/about-us/asp-board-statement-on-harassment

5. Dr. Sabrina Stierwalt Honored as L'Oreal UNESCO International Rising Talent

From: Emily Stephens [EStephens_at_us.loreal.com]

Last spring Dr. Sabrina Stierwalt wrote a Women in Astronomy guest blog on astronomy funding and her experience as a L'Oreal For Women in Science Postdoctoral Fellow here:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2015/04/finding-funding-in-unexpected-places.html

This week, L'Oreal-UNESCO has announced Sabrina is being honored as a 2016 L'Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talent:

"Dr. Sabrina Stierwalt is a postdoctoral scientist in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Virginia and is being honored as an International Rising Talent for her work on the study of how galaxies evolve. She is conducting the first systematic study of gas dynamics and star formation in interacting dwarf galaxies, with the goal of better understanding how stars formed in the early universe. In its second year, the International Rising Talents program recognizes the achievements of women who are in the early stages of their scientific careers and provides a 15,000 euro grant along with mentorship support and international exposure. The International Rising Talents were chosen from among the recent winners of the For Women in Science fellowships awarded locally by L'Oreal subsidiaries worldwide, including the L'Oreal USA For Women in Science fellowship program."

Read the full press release here

http://tinyurl.com/zqve6ht

6. The Scourge of the Female Chore Burden

From: Elysse Voyer [elysse.voyer_at_gmail.com]

by Olga Khazan

All over the world, women are doing work they're not getting paid for. In rich countries, it might be folding the laundry or staying home to take care of a sick child. In developing countries, unpaid labor tends to be more physically arduous, like hauling water and chopping wood. Wherever you are, it's considered women's work.

Melinda Gates picked up on this disparity in her travels throughout the world. Every year, she and her husband, Bill Gates, write a letter outlining their philanthropic priorities. This year, she devoted her portion of the letter to the burdens of unpaid work on women.

7. For every sexist email this student gets, she adds a woman scientist to Wikipedia

From Elysse Voyer [elysse.voyer_at_gmail.com]

by Bec Crew

Graduate student and aspiring biologist, Emily Temple-Wood, is an outspoken Wikipedia contributor and the co-founder of WikiProject Women Scientists - an initiative dedicated to ensuring that women in science are adequately represented on Wikipedia.

While her passion for this very worthy cause is obviously an awesome thing, it's seen her deal with a constant barrage of online harassment for years. But Temple-Wood has come up with the perfect way to turn those aggressive, sexist emails into a positive: for each one she receives, she writes a new Wikipedia article about a female scientist.

Read more at

http://tinyurl.com/z34xg8s

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.

Women In Astronomy

Friday, March 18, 2016

AASWOMEN Newsletter for March 18, 2016

No comments:

Post a Comment