Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Updated Activities and a Message From the Blogging Team

We have added more items to our previous blog post: A Message on COVID-19! Check them out at the link below.

https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-message-on-covid-19.html

The blogging team would like to thank all of you for continuing to read the Women in Astronomy Blog. As our team works to find a balance between working from home and taking care of loved ones there may be weeks where you do not hear from us. Please know we are still here working on content, but things may get delayed. Thank you for your understanding and keep an eye out for more posts! Be well!

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

A Message on COVID-19: Activities and Ways You Can Help While Social Distancing

By JoEllen McBride and Katie Eckert

We realize this message comes late in the COVID-19 pandemic and there have already been many posts by those more qualified to write about viruses and pandemics. But we wanted to reach out to our community as the virus continues to spread. Like us, you may be worried about your health, the health of your family and friends (near and far), your jobs and research, figuring out working from home potentially on top of caring for children or parents, the general state of the country and the world. We encourage you to do what you need to stay safe.

In this era of social distancing and shelter-in-place orders, we have put below some suggestions for staying connected, keeping engaged, and entertaining children. We welcome your suggestions (please comment below), which we will add to the list below. If you have other concerns, please reach out to wia-blog AT lists.aas.org.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

CSWA Endorsement Policy Finalized

By Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy


Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) is charged with recommending actions to the AAS Board of Trustees that can improve the status of women in astronomy. One way that we accomplish this is to support individuals or groups that are working on or developing projects that align with our mission. The Committee recently adopted a policy clarifying our recommendations on proposals for projects or activities that we can endorse or support.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Two-Body Problem Series: Priorities Change

By JoEllen McBride


Credit: Tod Strohmayer (GSFC), CXC, NASA
Illustration: Dana Berry (CXC)
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 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.

A few months ago I spoke with Kim-Vy Tran, a professor of astrophysics at New South Wales University, about her experiences with the 2-body problem. She agreed to have our conversation posted on the blog. It has been edited for clarity and to remove our discussions on being a cat mom. We can share that in a later post (only kidding).

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Meet Your CSWA, Patricia Knezek

Patricia Knezek joined NSF in 2013 and served as the Deputy Division Director of Astronomical Sciences, and then as a Senior Advisor in Mathematical & Physical Sciences. She spent time in Advanced Cyberinfrastructure and the Office of Diversity & Inclusion. She is now beginning her third year on assignment to NASA HQ in the Astrophysics Division. Prior to joining the NSF, she had been at NOAO as a staff scientist since 2001.


Pat has been active in issues of diversity and inclusion for her entire career. She previously served on CSWA, where some of her activities have included leading the development of “Equity Now! The Pasadena Recommendations for Gender Equality in Astronomy” and launching (with Rachel Ivie of the American Institute of Physics) the ad hoc group that developed the Longitudinal Study of Astronomy Graduate Students. Currently, she is co-chair of the CSWA and also a member of the AAS Ethics Task Force.