Friday, June 2, 2017

AASWomen Newsletter for June 2, 2017

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of June 2, 2017
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. The Leavitt Law Revisited
2. Think Your Credentials Are Ignored Because You're A Woman? It Could Be
3. The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boys’ Club
4. The Hidden Women in Astronomy Research
5. Science Celebrities: Where Are the Women?
6. Job Opportunities
7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

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1. The Leavitt Law Revisited
From: Nicolle Zellner via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

In November 2008, Harvard hosted a symposium to honor the 100th anniversary of Henrietta Leavitt's first presentation on her observations of the period-luminosity relationship seen in Cepheid stars.

Just a few months later, the AAS Executive Council agreed that this important relation should now be designated as the “Leavitt Law" and used widely.

I had never heard of this new phrasing until I read Dava Sobel's 2016 book The Glass Universe. I immediately changed my course and lecture notes to reflect this new language. Give credit where credit is due, is a good philosophy to have!

Read more at:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-leavitt-law-revisited.html

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2. Think Your Credentials Are Ignored Because You're A Woman? It Could Be
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

"When I first became a professor, I was 26. And female...The combination made me anxious about whether students would take me seriously as an authority on the material I was trying to teach. I made a point of introducing myself as "Professor Lombrozo," and I signed emails to students the same way — especially those addressed to Miss/Ms./Mrs. Lombrozo or those that simply used my first name. I bought some collared shirts from Brooks Brothers; I made a point to never wear jeans when meeting with undergraduates. If I looked more like people's mental image of a professor, I thought, maybe I'd be treated like one, too...Ten years later, I've stopped trying to dress like a 50-year-old man, but I still receive plenty of email directed to the imaginary Miss/Ms./Mrs. Lombrozo, who apparently teaches my courses. I'm still the professor whom people wandering the halls choose to interrupt to ask where the bathroom is. When students ask for an extension on preposterous grounds, I can't help but wonder: Would they make the same request of my male colleagues?"

Read more at

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/05/22/529391023/think-your-credentials-are-ignored-because-youre-a-woman-it-could-be

Read the original study at

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jwh.2016.6044

Read a 2012 CSWA blog piece on a similar topic at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-name-game.html

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3. The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boys’ Club
From: John Mather [johncm12_at_gmail.com]

by Eileen Pollack

“Of course, more than a few of the 118 boys in that introductory physics class had trouble keeping up. But I didn’t know that then, any more than I knew most of the boys worked on their problem sets together; in assigning all the female science majors to Silliman, the administration had prevented us from stumbling on the boys doing their problem sets together in the all-male entryways on Old Campus. Then again, I wouldn’t have had the courage to ask those boys for help. Why would I have let them know how desperately behind I was? As to seeking out my professor, why would I expose my ignorance to such a brilliant man?”

Read an excerpt of the book at:

http://www.salon.com/2015/09/12/the_only_woman_in_the_room_i_studied_hard_in_physics_and_pulled_ahead_but_why_do_i_only_remember_that_first_failing_grade/

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4. The Hidden Women in Astronomy Research
From: Cristina Thomas [cthomas_at_psi.edu]

by Marina Koren

“The citations found at the end of research papers serve several purposes, like providing background on the current work and giving proper credit where it’s due. They can also, according to a new study, reveal decades’ worth of trends in whole fields of science.

A trio of researchers have waded though more than half a century of research published in astronomy journals and found that studies authored by women receive 10 percent fewer citations than similar studies written by men.”

Read more at:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/the-hidden-women-in-astronomy-research/528297/

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5. Science Celebrities: Where Are the Women?
From: Cristina Thomas [cthomas_at_psi.edu]

by Erin Biba

“At the end of April, Netflix released the latest program to tap into the nostalgia of its largely millennial user base: Bill Nye Saves the World. Even before his new show aired, Nye had cemented his membership in a fraternity of science communicators that neatly package science for popular consumption. These days you don’t have to be a hard-core nerd to recognize of the names and faces of Neil deGrasse Tyson, David Attenborough, or Brian Greene. The thing is, there’s one conspicuous characteristic shared by each one of these household-name science celebrities. They’re all men.”

Read more at:

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/49412/title/Science-Celebrities--Where-Are-the-Women-/

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6. 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

-Adjunct Professor, Everett Community College, Everett, Washington
https://employment.everettcc.edu/postings/3661

-Head of the Radio Observatory, ASTRON, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
http://www.werkenbijastron.nl/en/vacatures/head-radio-observatory/

-Science Data Center Program Manager, ASTRON, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
http://www.werkenbijastron.nl/en/vacatures/science-data-center-program-manager/

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7. 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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8. 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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9. Access to Past Issues

https://cswa.aas.org/AASWOMEN.html

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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