Issue of April 19, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, JoEllen McBride, and Ale Aloisi (guest ed.)
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This week's issues:
1. La Serena School for Data Science Application Deadline Extended
2. The Scientist Who Cooks Up the Skies of Faraway Worlds
3. #MeToo controversy erupts at archaeology meeting
4. Ten simple rules towards healthier research labs
5. How indigenous expertise improves science: the curious case of shy lizards and deadly cane toads
6. Boston University fires geologist found to have harassed women in Antarctica
7. Extraordinary Females Who Had The World’s “Firsts” In Sciences
8. It matters who we champion in science
9. Male scientists are often cast as lone geniuses. Here’s what happened when a woman was.
10. How Work-Family Justice Can Bring Balance to Scientist Moms
11. Want black women students to stay in STEM? Help them find role models who look like them
12. Who Was Hedwig Kohn? Facts About The Pioneering Physicist Celebrated In Google Doodle
13. Female Scientists Respond to Discovery's New Campaign in The Best Way
14. ‘I Want What My Male Colleague Has, and That Will Cost a Few Million Dollars’
15. 80 nations set quotas for female leaders. Should the U.S. be next?
16. Doctoral Students Charge Insufficient Support for Cultural Affinity Groups in Proposal
18. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
19. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
20. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. La Serena School for Data Science Application Deadline Extended
From: Dara Norman [dnorman_at_noao.edu]
The application deadline for the La Serena School for Data Science has been extended to April 27. The School will meet Aug 19-28 in La Serena, Chile!
More details at
http://www.aura-o.aura-astronomy.org/winter_school
Back to top.2. The Scientist Who Cooks Up the Skies of Faraway Worlds
From: John Mather [johncm12_at_gmail.com]
By Shannon Hall
“In 2004, Sarah Hörst found herself at a crossroads. She was about to finish her bachelor’s degree at the California Institute of Technology and had decided to take a break from school. Not only did she feel burned out, she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to pursue a career studying Earth’s own climate or the mysteries surrounding distant planets. She knew that climate change was important, but she longed to study alien worlds. Today she describes it as a battle between her head and her heart.”
Read more at
https://www.quantamagazine.org/sarah-horst-creates-exoplanet-atmospheres-in-her-lab-20190408
Back to top.3. #MeToo controversy erupts at archaeology meeting
From: Jessica Mink [jmink_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
Here's an example of how another profession tried to deal with the presence of a sexual harasser and his victims at a conference. It's a good starting point for asking about how meetings in astronomy have handled or could handle such a situation.
Read more at
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/metoo-controversy-erupts-archaeology-meeting
Back to top.4. Ten simple rules towards healthier research labs
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
Fernando Maestre, a member of the Departamento de Biología y Geología at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Spain, has published an editorial that lists "10 simple rules to make the working environment of research labs more nurturing, collaborative, and people-centered."
Read the open-access editorial at
Back to top.5. How indigenous expertise improves science: the curious case of shy lizards and deadly cane toads
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
" [A] project in the remote Kimberley area of northwestern Australia provides hard evidence that collaborating with Indigenous rangers can change the outcome of science from failure to success. ... the overall success of our project increased as a result of our multicultural team."
Read more at
Back to top.6. Boston University fires geologist found to have harassed women in Antarctica
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
By Meredith Wadman
“Boston University (BU) today fired David Marchant, the geologist whose alleged harassment of women at remote Antarctic field camps Science first described 18 months ago.”
Read more at
Back to top.7. Extraordinary Females Who Had The World’s “Firsts” In Sciences
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
By Jesse Prout
“The history of science can sometimes read like a somewhat watered down story of old bearded white men with oversized glasses. But, there have been some incredible discoveries in the sciences from women who have been paradigm shifters in helping us understand the world around us.
From women figuring out the ins and outs of nuclear fission to breaking the speed barrier, you’re probably going to be surprised to see just how many women have contributed to the science community despite their lack of representation.”
Read more at
Back to top.8. It matters who we champion in science
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
By Maryam Zaringhalam and Jess Wade
“But what happens to the scientists who don’t catch fire online? The world knows about Bouman because social media needed a hero to attribute this historic achievement. But many equally impressive women stay under the radar and are subsequently erased from the history books.
The reasons for this range from systematic bias in authorship to grant allocation and publishing to the decisions of journalists on whose stories they tell. Over the past few years, we’ve taken the initiative to write hundreds of Wikipedia entries with the goal of giving forgotten scientists — especially women — the recognition they deserve for their work.”
Read more at
Back to top.9. Male scientists are often cast as lone geniuses. Here’s what happened when a woman was.
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
This article tries to sum up key takeaways from the EHT image and the reaction to Dr. Bouman's Eureka! moment.
"But there are a few key takeaways. One is that while the “lone genius” narrative can be tantalizing, it’s almost never true, especially in science. Another is that women often don’t feel welcome in scientific fields — and the reaction to Bouman’s picture reveals hostility many women scientists face all the time. Lastly, to combat this hostility, we need to see more images of women thriving in science."
Read more at
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/4/16/18311194/black-hole-katie-bouman-trolls
Back to top.10. How Work-Family Justice Can Bring Balance to Scientist Moms
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com] and Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
By Rachel Buxton, Shiway Wang, Elizabeth Phillips, Holly Jones, Heather Major, Jennifer Provencher
"Increasing evidence shows that the “work-life balance” phrasing puts the blame on working mothers; a “balance” suggests that moms’ stress is a result of our own shortcomings and mismanaged commitments. Work-family justice shifts the onus of finding harmony between career and home life from the individual to society. It raises the question, why are individual mothers responsible to make it work, to figure it out for themselves? Work-family justice stresses that the conflict between work and family is not an inevitable feature of contemporary science careers, and it’s not the fault of women or parents."
Read more at
Back to top.11. Want black women students to stay in STEM? Help them find role models who look like them
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Indiana University
"Representation matters for Black women college students when it comes to belonging in rigorous science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs, according to a new study. Having role models who share their racial identity is vital to signaling a sense of belonging for women of color college students."
Read more at
https://phys.org/news/2019-04-black-women-students-stem-role.html
Back to top.12. Who Was Hedwig Kohn? Facts About The Pioneering Physicist Celebrated In Google Doodle
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Brendan Cole
"The life of Hedwig Kohn, who broke down boundaries in science for women, is being honored by Google in its latest Doodle on what would have been her 132nd birthday.
Born in Breslau, which is now present-day Wroclaw, Poland, in 1887, Kohn did not allow the limited opportunities for women and Jews to prevent her from making waves in physics."
Read more at
Back to top.13. Female Scientists Respond to Discovery's New Campaign in The Best Way
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
Some lady scientists made a *new* promo for Discovery because "The world is ours too."
Read more at
Back to top.14. ‘I Want What My Male Colleague Has, and That Will Cost a Few Million Dollars’
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Mallory Pickett
"Northern San Diego County is a scientific mecca, home to some of the world’s leading biotech companies, renowned research institutions and a world-class university. But the Salk Institute for Biological Research, perched on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, is distinguished even among its neighbors.
By 2017, the biochemist Beverly Emerson had worked in this utopia for 31 years. She was, at the time, onto an exciting idea — a novel approach to understanding tumor growth — but her 66th birthday was coming up, and with it her contract with Salk would expire. To renew it, the Institute required that she have enough grant money to cover half her salary. She didn’t."
Read more at
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/magazine/salk-institute-discrimination-science.html
Back to top.15. 80 nations set quotas for female leaders. Should the U.S. be next?
From: Maria Patterson [maria.t.patterson_at_gmail.com]
By Heather Long
“Alexander De Croo is not a partner at BCG, a top global consulting firm. His wife is. Yet when he accompanies her to big consulting events, at least one person typically approaches the couple and asks De Croo which division he heads at the company. They assume his wife is there as a significant other.
Even in 2019, De Croo says, the bias remains that men are leaders and women are not.”
Read more at
Back to top.16. Doctoral Students Charge Insufficient Support for Cultural Affinity Groups in Proposal
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Luke A. Williams
"Leaders of several Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student groups submitted a proposal to administrators in December calling for major changes to the way GSAS and Dudley House support affinity groups.
Graduate students from Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, the W.E.B. Du Bois Graduate Society, the Harvard GSAS Latinx Student Association, and the Harvard LGBTQ@GSAS Association signed the proposal last semester."
Read more at
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/4/2/phd-students-charge-gsas-affinity-groups
Back to top.17. 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
-Staff scientist (open rank) with the North American ALMA Science Center at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
http://jobs.jobvite.com/nrao/job/o2pM9fw6
18. 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.19. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
AAS has migrated their email system to Microsoft Exchange. Please watch this space for updated instructions on subscribing and unsubscribing to the AASWomen Newsletter.
Back to top.20. Access to Past Issues
https://cswa.aas.org/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.