Issue of August 10, 2018
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride
This week's issues:
1. Cross Post: How This Female Fortune 100 Executive Is Helping Women Advance In STEM Fields
2. A Quiet Sunday Night Discovering a Supermassive Black Hole
3. LSSTC Data Science Fellowship - Accepting Applications
4. Fourth COSPAR Symposium: Small Satellites for Sustainable Science and Development
5. National Academies Convocation Announcement and Updated Materials
6. Rethinking Our Physics Heros
7. University Finds Prominent Astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss Grabbed a Woman's Breast
8. Today is Black Women's Equal Pay Day: Here’s What You Need To Know
9. AI spots 40,000 prominent scientists overlooked by Wikipedia
11. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Cross Post: How This Female Fortune 100 Executive Is Helping Women Advance In STEM Fields
From: Cristina Thomas via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
In this week's cross-post article, journalist and Forbes contributor Elana Lyn Gross profiles Nicola Palmer, the chief network engineering officer at Verizon. Palmer has been committed to helping girls and women gain STEM skills that can make an impact in any field. In the interview, Palmer speaks about "her 28-year career at Verizon, inclusive leadership and actionable ways we can support women in STEM fields".
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2018/08/cross-post-how-this-female-fortune-100.html
Back to top.2. A Quiet Sunday Night Discovering a Supermassive Black Hole
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Noura Alonzi
"As one of the first women astronomers in Saudi Arabia, it makes me so proud to be part of this discovery, and I hope that I set a good example for other women there to study astronomy. I dream of starting a research group in Saudi Arabia and collaborating with international researchers to continue working on amazing projects like this."
Read more at
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-quiet-sunday-night-supermassive-black.html
Back to top.3. LSSTC Data Science Fellowship - Accepting Applications
From: Lucianne Walkowicz [l.m.walkowicz_at_gmail.com]
We are pleased to announce that the LSSTC Data Science Fellowship Program is now accepting applications for new students at astrodatascience.org! The application deadline is August 22nd.
The LSSTC Data Science Fellowship Program (DSFP) is a supplement to graduate education in astronomy, intended to teach astronomy students essential skills for dealing with big data. You don't need to know anything about data science to apply, you just need to be excited to learn!
The DSFP consists of three, one-week schools per year over a two year period. On top of teaching our students the skills they need for modern survey astronomy, we also aim to create a collaborative, supportive learning environment, and work to empower our students to teach the skills they learn to others. We strive to create an inclusive program, and particularly encourage applications from students from traditionally underrepresented groups in astronomy.
Learn more about the program and apply at
Back to top.4. Fourth COSPAR Symposium: Small Satellites for Sustainable Science and Development
From: Paragon Israel [torkabi_at_paragong.com]
The 2019 COSPAR symposium will be held in Herzlyia, Israel. A preliminary list of invited speakers has Jack Lissauer from NASA Ames, Alan Stern from SWRI, Jose Sobrano from Valencia, Avi Loeb from Harvard, and Eric Priest from St. Andrews. A more comprehensive list of speakers, as well as the topics of the symposium and a preliminary program, will become available following the Pasadena GA in August 2018.
Updates on the program and registration is available at
Back to top.5. National Academies Convocation Announcement and Updated Materials
From: Jessica Mink [jmink_at_cfa.harvard.edu]; Nancy Morrison [nancyastro126_at_gmail.com]
A National Convocation for Leaders in Academia on Preventing Sexual Harassment
Friday, November 9, 2018 9:00am - 5:00pm EDT National Academy of Sciences Building 2101 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC
'The persistence of sexual harassment and its adverse impact on women’s careers in our nation’s colleges and universities is jeopardizing more rapid and sustained progress in closing the “gender gap” in science, engineering, and medicine. On November 9, 2018, join colleagues, leaders in academia, and other experts in building on the recent report "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Science, Engineering, and Medicine," to develop and strategize plans on how to prevent sexual harassment in academia.'
Register for the convocation at
The report and other materials can be found at
Back to top.6. Rethinking Our Physics Heroes
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
A Nature Physics editorial suggests that "the way we look up to the great people of science needs tweaking". There have been many great researchers who are/were "constructive and generous with their time and energy", and they should be acknowledged.
Read more at
Back to top.7. University Finds Prominent Astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss Grabbed a Woman's Breast
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Meredith Wadman
“An investigation by Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe concluded this week that high-profile astrophysicist and atheist Lawrence Krauss violated the university’s sexual harassment policy by grabbing a woman’s breast at a conference in Australia in late 2016.”
Read more at
Back to top.8. Today is Black Women's Equal Pay Day: Here’s What You Need To Know
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]
By McKenna Moore
“August 7 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, a date chosen to highlight the pay gap between black women and white men because a black woman, on average, would have to work 19 months — or roughly January of one year until August of the next — to make what a white man made in one calendar year. Equal Pay Day for All is held in April, but it is important to distinguish the fact that black women make far less than women on the whole. Women earn 80 cents for every dollar that men make, but black women make 63 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men make. This means that black women also make 38% less than white men and 21% less than white women, according to a study published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. And the gap is only widening for women, both black and white.” Read more at
http://fortune.com/2018/08/07/what-is-black-womens-equal-pay-day
Back to top.9. AI spots 40,000 prominent scientists overlooked by Wikipedia
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By James Vincent
“AI is often criticized for its tendency to perpetuate society’s biases, but it’s equally capable of fighting them. Machine learning is currently being used to scan scientific studies and news stories to identify prominent scientists who aren’t featured on Wikipedia. Many of these scientists are female, and their omission is particularly significant in the world’s most popular encyclopedia, where 82 percent of biographies are written about men.”
Read more at
https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/8/17663544/ai-scientists-wikipedia-primer
Back to top.10. 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
-National Air and Space Museum Earth and Planetary Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship https://airandspace.si.edu/support/get-involved/fellowships/postdoctoral-earth-and-planetary-sciences
Back to top.11. 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.12. 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:
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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:
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Back to top.13. Access to Past Issues
https://cswa.aas.org/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.