Women In Astronomy: AASWomen Newsletter for October 04, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 04, 2019
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

This week's issues:

1. The Means of Doing Science

2. The First Conference for Undergraduate Women in Astronomy

3. An Astronaut Who Built Paths to Space for Other Women

4. Harvard’s Forgotten Female Astronomers

5. Physics Today, October 2019: Annual Careers Issue

6. We are all complicit in harassment and abuse

7. The Myth of the STEM Pipeline

8. A Diversity and Inclusion Statement for Liberal Studies

9. Physicists in India meet to talk about gender equity and some physics

10. 2019 OWSD Early Career Fellows Announced

11. Opinion: Can Prizes Help Women Shatter Science’s Glass Ceiling?

12. Get over it: Why you can't afford to be shy about self-promotion

13. Job Opportunities

14. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

15. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

16. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

1. The Means of Doing Science
From: JoEllen McBride via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

When the U.S. decided to go to the Moon, President John F. Kennedy famously said “We choose to go to the moon and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” But is that why we went to the Moon? It is pretty well known that our arms race with the Soviet Union provided the urgency to send men to the Moon. We considered Air Force pilots for astronauts and the government pumped billions of dollars into creating NASA just to beat the Soviets to the Moon. It’s also safe to say that going to the Moon inspired a whole generation of kids to go into STEM fields and created new technologies that benefited most of us.

But what happens when you only look at the products of science and technology and not how it was accomplished?

2. The First Conference for Undergraduate Women in Astronomy
From: Nancy Morrison [nancy.morrison_at_utoledo.edu]

The inaugural Conference for Undergraduate Women in Astronomy (CUWiA) will be held Nov 1-3, 2019, in Morgantown, WV. Registration is free. Jocelyn Bell is speaking.

Learn more about the conference and register at

https://sites.google.com/view/cuwia/home

3. An Astronaut Who Built Paths to Space for Other Women
From: Jessica Mink [jmink_at_cfa.harvard.edu]

[This article may require a subscription. --eds] The NEW York Times recognizes Dr. Janet Kavandi, retiring director of NASA's Glenn Research Center as paving the way for female equality in space.

4. Harvard’s Forgotten Female Astronomers
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By Drew C. Pendergrass

"When a 23-year-old single mother started working as a maid for Harvard professor Edward C. Pickering, class of 1865, he didn’t expect her to change our understanding of the stars. It was 1879 and Williamina P. S. Fleming needed work: She had immigrated to Boston a year earlier, only to be abandoned by her husband shortly thereafter. Back in Scotland, Fleming had been a schoolteacher — she was a quick learner, and she began teaching when she was just 14."

5. Physics Today, October 2019: Annual Careers Issue
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

"Our first annual careers issue focuses on three aspects of becoming and being a physicist: the paths that physical scientists pursue 10 years after obtaining their PhD, the case for including innovation and entrepreneurship in the undergraduate physics curriculum, and the efforts of a consortium of California colleges and universities to boost the number of women and underrepresented minorities in graduate school. Be sure also to read Elizabeth Frank's commentary on page 10 and the news stories starting on page 24."

6. We are all complicit in harassment and abuse
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

By Virginia Valian

"In August, a prominent professor issued a public apology to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. He said he had not known about the nature of Epstein’s crimes when he accepted donations from the financial tycoon and serial abuser of underage girls, but he acknowledged responsibility for helping to burnish the criminal’s reputation: information was there for the learning, had he thought to look for it.

The vast majority of scholars will never have crossed paths with Epstein, but many of us — myself included — are guilty of lapses, of instances when we failed to recognize or take steps to prevent abuse. It is past time for us to create effective ways to intervene."

7. The Myth of the STEM Pipeline
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By Wendy L. Hill

"Over the years, I’ve observed that high schools often promote as a badge of honor the percentage of graduates planning to pursue a degree in STEM fields, given the increasing emphasis on the nation’s need for employees with such expertise. Although I applaud a rigorous STEM curriculum, this heralding can perpetuate the myth of the STEM pipeline."

8. A Diversity and Inclusion Statement for Liberal Studies
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

"To: Provost JollyMolly Daft

RE: Draft of our diversity and inclusion statement

From: Department of Liberal Studies

Dear Provost Daft,

It is the hiring season again, and we have revised the diversity and inclusion statement that your administration is forcing us to add. We reluctantly do so, but in the spirit of transparency you impose (but do not hold yourself to), we would like to offer full disclosure about our campus culture to our potential job candidates. Thank you again for approving the rare tenure-track position in Liberal Studies."

9. Physicists in India meet to talk about gender equity and some physics
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By Hansika Chabbra

"A first-of-its-kind science conference, titled Pressing for Progress, was held in Hyderabad from 19th to 21st September 2019. It was organised by the Indian Physics Association in partnership with the University of Hyderabad. During the conference, the representative from the Department of Science and Technology, Dr Vandana Singh, announced that DST would accredit Indian universities based on a gender audit, similar to the UK’s Athena-SWAN, to incentivise gender equity in scientific establishments in India. Details of what the Indian version of such a charter might look like were touched upon at the 3-day conference."

Meg Urry delivered the opening address and launched a children's book 31 Fantastic Adventures in Science authored by Aashima Freidog and Nandita Jayaraj.

10. 2019 OWSD Early Career Fellows Announced
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

The Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD) selected 20 women as Early Career Fellows in August. Many featured are working in the biological sciences on a wide variety of topics. There are several physicists working on research from the water vapor cycle to magnetic refrigeration.

11. Opinion: Can Prizes Help Women Shatter Science’s Glass Ceiling?
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com] and Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Marja Makarow

"So are times changing for women in science? For too long, women have been marginalized by the profession, and misogynistic attitudes still hamper their progress. Of nearly 18 million scientists and engineers in the EU, 41 percent are women. However, just last year, a leading professor opined that “physics was invented and built by men, it’s not by invitation.” The almost laughable irony is that he said this at an event convened to explore the disparity between gender and science by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research."

12. Get over it: Why you can't afford to be shy about self-promotion
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

By Kim Churches

It’s not enough to merely know your value to advance in your career. You must also be able to show value. Yet recent research shows that seven in 10 women would rather minimize their successes than share them with others.

... the same silent work ethic that won us A’s in school won’t get us to the C-suite at work. To be recognized as leaders, we need to sing like a canary, not hide in the bushes.

13. 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

Postdoctoral Research Associate at Georgia State University https://gsu.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=19001206

Extra-Galactic PhD Student, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ
https://lowell.edu/about/employment

James Arthur Postdoctoral Fellowship at NYU https://cosmo.nyu.edu/index.php/opportunities/#Postdoc1

14. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_lists.aas.org

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15. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

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16. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

Women In Astronomy

Friday, October 4, 2019

AASWomen Newsletter for October 04, 2019

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