Women In Astronomy: AASWomen Newsletter for April 07, 2017

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 07, 2017
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. Women In Astronomy IV - Join us!
From: Sarah Tuttle via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

I'm excited to share with you a project we've been working on for months. The next "Women in Astronomy" conference is coming up quick, June 9 11th in Austin, Texas (right after the Summer AAS meeting).

Why should you join us (especially after a grueling but delightful summer AAS?)

2. An Early-Career Astronomer's Experience at AAS CVD 2017
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]

"This guest post is from Julie D. Davis, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. - Heather Bloemhard, Bahcall Public Policy Fellow

This March, I had the opportunity to participate in the annual American Astronomical Society Congressional Visits Day (CVD). Along with 14 fellow scientists from across the country, I spent three days in Washington, DC, getting an intensive crash-course in science policy and tackling Capitol Hill. The experience was a whirlwind but absolutely fascinating and very worthwhile. I was able to expand my horizons beyond academia, branch out of my comfort zone, and do something tangible for science in an uncertain political climate."

3. Starting from girls, making women's lives count
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]

"In a statement ahead of the Women's G7 Forum [beginning today, April 7], UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka emphasized that building gender equality is 'a shared responsibility, needing action in all sectors and by everyone: public and private sectors, men and women alike.'"

4. Women's interest development and motivations to persist as college students in STEM
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]

"If women continue to be underrepresented in STEM, gaining deeper understanding of what makes some of them motivated in science is an important step in addressing this. A mixed methods study published in International Journal of STEM Education investigates what experiences women credited for influencing their career interest goals and their motivation to succeed: read their own words, the enthusiasm is infectious."

Find the original study at

https://stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40594-017-0059-2

5. Girls' confidence level, not math ability hinders path to science degrees
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]

"When it comes to mathematics, girls rate their abilities markedly lower than boys, even when there is no observable difference between the two, according to Florida State University researchers.

"The argument continues to be made that gender differences in the 'hard' sciences is all about ability," said Lara Perez-Felkner, assistant professor of higher education and sociology in the College of Education. "But when we hold mathematics ability test scores constant, effectively taking it out of the equation, we see boys still rate their ability higher, and girls rate their ability lower."

Find the original study at

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00386

6. Eos: Geosciences Make Modest Gains but Still Struggle with Diversity
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]

"Recent research on diversity indicates that a general underrepresentation of minorities in science and engineering becomes even more pronounced in the geosciences. The findings show also that despite efforts to attract more minorities into the geosciences, their representation has improved only incrementally for more than a decade.

Women, on the other hand, have increased their presence in the geosciences since 2004. Back then, women earned one out of every three doctoral degrees awarded in the geosciences; by 2014, the share of Ph.D.'s earned by women rose to 43%. Yet despite gains in educational attainment, women remain deeply underemployed in the geosciences..."

7. Job Opportunities

For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: https://cswa.aas.org/diversity.html#howtoincrease

-Observatory Support Scientist, Boston University (stationed in Flagstaff, AZ) http://www.bu.edu/iar/files/2017/03/BU_Lowell_ObsSupportSci_ad_new.pdf

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