The National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine recently solicited white papers for the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020). The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy submitted two white papers to the call for the state of the profession consideration. Our papers were written based on preliminary results from our climate survey conducted this past spring. We want to thank the community members that took the time to provide such crucial and detailed feedback. Your contributions allowed us to provide clear, actionable recommendations that federal agencies can implement to address sexual harassment and career development for women and underserved minorities in the field of astronomy. You can access our papers at the links provided below.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Friday, July 26, 2019
AASWOMEN Newsletter for July 26, 2019
At the Mojave Desert in California on Thursday, July 18, 2019 over 107,000 solar mirrors reflected the moonlight to create a portrait of Margaret Hamilton. She led the team that developed the onboard flight software of Apollo 11. (Credit: Google)Issue of July 26, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, JoEllen McBride, and Alessandra Aloisi
[AAS has migrated their email system to Microsoft Exchange, so please check your spam folder if you did not receive the newsletter this week. It is no longer possible to subscribe or unsubscribe to the AASWomen newsletter by means of Google Groups. We have updated our subscribe and unsubscribe instructions below. Please follow us on social media for updates and thank you for bearing with us as we work out all the kinks.
Twitter @AAS_Women Facebook https://bit.ly/2PkU9of]
This week's issues:
1. Celebrating the Women of Apollo
2. A moonlit tribute to a moon landing icon
3. Still Soliciting Memories of Margaret Burbidge
4. Imaging Women in the Space Age
5. The Woman Who Discovered the Cause of Global Warming Was Long Overlooked
6. Women in science: Smashing glass ceilings and glass walls
7. Does Gender Bias Still Affect Women in Science?
8. Inclusion is what makes diversity stick
9. Developing Skills for Leadership Roles
10. The reward and risk of social media for academics
12. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
14. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Celebrating the Women of Apollo
Friday, July 19, 2019
AASWomen Newsletter for July 19, 2019
Issue of July 19, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride
[AAS has migrated their email system to Microsoft Exchange, so please check your spam folder if you did not receive the newsletter this week. It is no longer possible to subscribe or unsubscribe to the AASWomen newsletter by means of Google Groups. We have updated our subscribe and unsubscribe instructions below. Please follow us on social media for updates and thank you for bearing with us as we work out all the kinks.
Twitter @AAS_Women Facebook https://bit.ly/2PkU9of
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| Margaret W. "Hap" Brennecke in 1964, Credit: NASA |
1. Your Memories of Dr. Margaret Burbidge
2. Margaret "Hap" Brennecke: The woman who welded Apollo's rockets
4. A Woman's Place is in Space: Meet Eight Asian American Women Reaching for the Stars
5. The Black Women Food Scientists Who Created Meals For Astronauts
6. To Make It to the Moon, Women Have to Escape Earth's Gender Bias
7. While NASA Was Landing on the Moon, Many African-Americans Sought Economic Justice Instead
8. Three generations of space experts react to the Moon landings
9. SETI Institute Collaborates with Girl Scouts to Develop New Space Science Badges
10. Science history: Esther Conwell 'jump-started the computer age'
11. The universal Universe or making astronomy inclusive
12. Jeffrey Epstein liked palling around with scientists - What do the think now?
13. How Coding Has Changed (And Not) For Women In The Past 30 Years
14. Girls' superb verbal skills may contribute to the gender gap in math
15. At STEM Competitions, Gender Norms Still Hold Girls Back
16. Astronomy Club Sets Netflix Sketch Comedy Series With Kenya Barris Producing
18. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
19. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Your Memories of Dr. Margaret Burbidge
In 1971, Margaret Burbidge refused to accept the AAS Council's Cannon Prize because "the prize, available only to women, was in itself discriminatory." The Council's response was to set up a committee, the "Special Committee on the Cannon Prize," which not only dealt with this issue but also recommended that the AAS review the status of women in astronomy. These events were the catalyst that started the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA).
On her 100th Birthday, August 12, the CSWA would like the community to share their memories of the astronomer who verified nucleosynthesis in stars, measured redshifts to some of the first quasars, and helped develop the Faint Object Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope--among many other accomplishments. Please use the form below to reminisce. There is space to leave your name, institution, and job title, but these are not required. Your memories will be posted on the CSWA Women in Astronomy Blog on August 12 and shared with Dr. Burbidge.
Submit your memories at
https://forms.gle/s56ELEjHzsHz3VEaAFriday, July 12, 2019
AASWomen Newsletter for July 12, 2019
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| ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and her Barbie (stylist.co.uk image) |
7. These young scientists will shape the next 50 years of Moon research
Monday, July 8, 2019
Crosspost: Pre-registration Open for the Inclusive Astronomy 2 Conference
It has been four years since the 2015 Nashville Inclusive Astronomy meeting, an event that brought astronomers together with sociologists, policy makers, and leaders in the field to discuss issues affecting underrepresented groups in astronomy. The Nashville Recommendations, which emphasize equity and intersectionality, build upon a rich history of work to broaden participation and improve climates.
We now have the opportunity to bring together the astronomy community to discuss the current state of the profession and make recommendations for the 2020s and beyond. Specifically, we will discuss community expectations on inclusivity and representation, evaluate our progress towards meeting equity goals, and address the needs of marginalized groups in the workforce. We will advance these broad goals by focusing on barriers in professional development (e.g., training, jobs, promotion, tenure) and barriers to accessing resources (e.g., funding, telescopes, facilities, data).
Friday, July 5, 2019
AASWomen Newsletter for July 5, 2019
Issue of July 05, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, JoEllen McBride, and Alessandra Aloisi
[AAS has migrated their email system to Microsoft Exchange, so please check your spam folder if you did not receive the newsletter this week. It is no longer possible to subscribe or unsubscribe to the AASWomen newsletter by means of Google Groups. We have updated our subscribe and unsubscribe instructions below. Please follow us on social media for updates and thank you for bearing with us as we work out all the kinks.
Twitter @AAS_Women Facebook https://bit.ly/2PkU9of
This week's issues:
2. NASA changes how it divvies up telescope time to reduce gender bias
4. Making invisible work in STEM more visible
5. Women feel inferior and less suited to Stem jobs than men
7. Unstoppable women: These 3 astronomy lovers will inspire you to reach for the stars
10. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
Monday, July 1, 2019
The Advocacy Axis
Adapted from a Plenary talk given at the 234th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
By Joan Schmelz, PhDNew high-profile sexual harassment cases continue to appear in the press almost daily. A few years ago, a cluster of these cases involved Astronomers. At the time, I decided to talk to the press, in part to help take the heat off of the Title IX complainants, several of whom wished to remain anonymous. Here’s one of my quotes from back then:
“We have to find a way to change the system - to take the pressure off the young women in the most vulnerable stages of their careers and shift it to the senior men, many of whom have admitted to knowing this ‘open secret’ for years if not decades.”--Joan Schmelz (Oct 2015)
A strange thing happened as a result of that publicity. About a dozen senior male astronomers (individuals in our scientific community with the most privilege) sought me out to tell me that they had known about the harassment in one or more of these cases, but had never intervened. Here’s an abbreviated list of the reasons they gave for doing/saying nothing:
- It was none of my business
- I didn’t want to intrude
- I didn’t know what to do
- I thought I might make it worse
- It’s not my problem
- Boys will be boys