Friday, January 31, 2020

AASWomen Newsletter for January 31, 2020

Former NASA astronaut Nicole Stott stars in Olay’s Super Bowl commercial alongside Lilly Singh and Busy Philipps. Credit: Olay
AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of January 31, 2020
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

This week's issues:

1. Two-Body Problem Series: Playing the Long Game

2. Former NASA astronaut to star in STEM Super Bowl commercial

3. The heroines of STEM: Ten women in science you should know

4. Unprecedented study finds NZ universities paying woman academics $400,000 less than men

5. Understanding Our Environment Requires an Indigenous Worldview

6. Stress, anxiety, harassment: huge survey reveals pressures of scientists’ working lives

7. How employers can avoid ‘occupational sorting’ by women

8. It’s All About STEM Women: Arianne Hunter and the Privilege of Dreams

9. Life in the Balance

10. US National Academies launches search for evidence-based programmes to support scientist parents

11. 3 Things You Should Know About the Gender Pay Gap

12. How Women Can Successfully Navigate Male-Dominated Fields

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. Two-Body Problem Series: Playing the Long Game
From: Anonymous via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

“This entry in the two-body problem series is an account of one person’s experience navigating the academic track with their partner. For context, the people in the relationship are white, cisgender, and heterosexual. If you would like to contribute your own story to this series, please contact us at wia-blog at lists.aas.org.

When did you and your partner meet?

We met in college. We both knew that we wanted to apply to graduate school and pursue academic careers (he's in engineering and I'm in astronomy).

Were you ever long-distance during your relationship? At what points? What were some things you did that made it easier?

We were long distance for five years while we attended different graduate schools.”

Read more at:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2020/01/two-body-problem-series-playing-long.html#more

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2. Former NASA astronaut to star in STEM Super Bowl commercial
From: Maria Patterson [maria.t.patterson_at_gmail.com]

Retired engineer and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott will star in an Olay commercial during the Super Bowl featuring "Stott going into space with comedian and talk show host Lilly Singh and actress Busy Philipps."

"Stott, who first joined NASA as an operations engineer in 1988, says a female-led commercial such as this is the perfect representation needed to get more women interested in STEM. 'Young women need to know that these opportunities are available to them,' she says. 'But a lot of it requires them to take the first steps to make it happen.'"

Read more at

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/22/nasa-astronaut-nicole-stotts-super-bowl-commercial-for-women-in-stem.html

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3. The heroines of STEM: Ten women in science you should know
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

Here are ten women who made significant contributions to their fields that you may not have learned about in your studies. (Although, if you read this newsletter you probably have!)

Read more at

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/27/world/women-in-science-you-should-know-scn/index.html

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4. Unprecedented study finds NZ universities paying woman academics $400,000 less than men
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

In a study of 6000 academic staff at every New Zealand university, scientific investigators revealed a significant financial gap between men and women at the top of their fields. Over the course of their careers, women were paid $400,000 NZD (~$2640,000 US) less (on average) than their male colleagues, only half of which "could be explained by differences in academic research prowess, age, and area of expertise."

Read more at

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/118940231/unprecedented-study-finds-nz-universities-paying-woman-academics-400000-less-than-men?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=251353de20-briefing-dy-20200122&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-251353de20-42077799

Find the original Plos One article at

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/comments?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226392

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5. Understanding Our Environment Requires an Indigenous Worldview
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

The American Geophysical Union's Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee has highlighted perspectives from underrepresented communities in the geosciences. In this article, Raychelle Daniel describes how the Yup’ik way of knowing transcends environmental observations and recommends that as scientists, "we must place the proper value on it through equitable time and funding." As astronomers and planetary scientists, we should continue these conversations in our own research communities.

Read more at

https://eos.org/opinions/understanding-our-environment-requires-an-indigenous-worldview

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6. Stress, anxiety, harassment: huge survey reveals pressures of scientists’ working lives
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

By Alison Abbott

"A survey of more than 4,000 scientists has painted a damning picture of the culture in which they work, suggesting that highly competitive and often hostile environments are damaging the quality of research."

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00101-9?utm_source=fbk_nnc&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=naturenews&sf228357258=1&fbclid=IwAR3xSD1bAlNTjdg4RQMGvH56FOAF-CTmvk4cTG3BDCy44Ycc6MJgxIelzlQ

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7. How employers can avoid ‘occupational sorting’ by women
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Tom Starner

“Mercedes Meyer, a Washington-based intellectual property partner with the Drinker Biddle law firm, is on a crusade, urging women in science and technology to take more ownership of their ideas and inventions, including applying for patents to help close a longtime IP gender gap.

For example, Meyer, who holds a Ph.D in virology, recently helped develop a gender-diversity innovation toolkit for employers to help women researchers secure patentable discoveries. The protocol, launched in September, follows several years of beta-testing by major companies, including 3M, Micron Technologies, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

For her next act, Meyer is taking aim at another stumbling block to women’s professional success - the concept of “occupational sorting.” ”

Read more at

https://hrexecutive.com/how-employers-can-avoid-occupational-sorting-by-women

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8. It’s All About STEM Women: Arianne Hunter and the Privilege of Dreams
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Julia Travers

“Hunter is a first-generation college student who was a member of the Division I Women’s Basketball Team at Dartmouth College, the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma, and the founder of “We Do Science Too!” — a nonprofit serving girls who have less access to STEM experiences. She is a published and awarded scientist and is currently pursuing postdoctoral training in Forensic Chemistry at the Defense Forensic Science Center.”

Read more at

https://philanthropywomen.org/women-and-girls-of-color/its-all-about-stem-women-arianne-hunter-and-the-privilege-of-dreams

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9. Life in the Balance
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Michael Haederle

“Harshini Mukundan, PhD, juggles a dizzying number of responsibilities – while somehow making it all look effortless.

As an administrator in the Chemistry Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, she serves as Deputy Group Leader for Physical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy and Team Leader in Chemistry for Biomedical Applications. The 2003 graduate from UNM's Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program is also a teacher, as well as a devoted parent and spouse, who, in her spare time, participates in traditional Indian dance.”

Read more at

http://hscnews.unm.edu/news/life-in-the-balance

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10. US National Academies launches search for evidence-based programmes to support scientist parents
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com] and Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

The US National Academies is compiling information on initiatives in place at various institutions that are effectively addressing the work-family balance in STEM careers. Their goal is to address the large number of STEM workers who leave the field due to the difficulties of having both a successful STEM career and family.

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00246-7

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11. 3 Things You Should Know About the Gender Pay Gap
From: Andrea Dupree [adupree_at_cfa.harvard.edu]

The Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at the Harvard Kennedy School is launching a series of three-minute videos entitled "3 Things You Should Know to Advance Gender Equity". These videos are inspired by a WAPPP seminar series focused on results from evidence-based research to promote gender equity at work. The featured experts were convened at Harvard Kennedy School on critical topics from paid family leave to sexual harassment, including intersectional perspectives on gender. In three short minutes, viewers can learn three practical tools for advancing gender equity in the workplace and explore additional resources.

https://wappp.hks.harvard.edu/3-things-you-should-know-about-gender-pay-gap?mc_cid=aa35c43ce6&mc_eid=a235773388

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12. How Women Can Successfully Navigate Male-Dominated Fields
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Charlie Fletcher

“Gender equality in the workplace is finally beginning to change for the better, though at a glacial pace. Slightly more than half of U.S. adults (52%) believe that gender equality is essential. Time magazine’s 2017 Person of the Year award was distributed equally amongst “The Silence Breakers,” the women behind and associated with the #MeToo movement. In 2018, more women assumed leadership, board, and Congressional roles throughout the country. While these types of progress are heartening, the reality is that women are still significantly underrepresented, particularly in traditionally male-dominated fields. In fields such as long-haul trucking, a shortage exists because drivers are mostly older, white men and diverse demographics have not been encouraged.”

Read more at

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-women-can-successfully-navigate-male-dominated-fields

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13. Job Opportunities

For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:

https://aas.org/comms/cswa/resources/Diversity

- Postdoc in mm/radio lensed high-z galaxies, Yale-NUS College, Singapore https://www.yale-nus.edu.sg/careers/faculty/apply/postdoctoral-fellow

- Lecturer, Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, CA https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF02399

- Tenure-Track Faculty Position in High Energy Physics and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/15924

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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

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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15. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

Send an email to aaswomen_at_lists.aas.org. A list moderator will add your email to the list. They will reply to your message to confirm that they have added you.

Join AAS Women List through the online portal:

Go to https://lists.aas.org/postorius/lists/aaswlist.lists.aas.org and enter the email address you wish to subscribe in the ‘Your email address’ field. You will receive an email from ‘aaswlist-confirm’ that you must reply to. There may be a delay between entering your email and receiving the confirmation message. Check your Spam or Junk mail folders for the message if you have not received it after 2 hours.

To unsubscribe from AAS Women by email:

Send an email to aaswlist-leave_at_lists.aas.org from the email address you wish to remove from the list. You will receive an email from ‘aaswlist-confirm’ that you must reply to which will complete the unsubscribe.

Leave AAS Women or change your membership settings through the online portal:

Go to https://lists.aas.org/accounts/signup to create an account with the online portal. After confirming your account you can see the lists you are subscribed to and update your settings.

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16. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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