AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 24, 2020
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]
This week's issues:
1. 3 Tips for Women Faculty to Get Through #WFH, #socialdistancing, and #stayingwell
2. Anticipated NASA Job Announcement: Astrophysics Program Scientist
3. Why Do Women Make Such Good Leaders During COVID-19?
4. No Room of One's Own
5. Even More Ways to Help Librarians and Archivists From Home
6. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
7. Betty Shannon, Unsung Mathematical Genius
8. Overlooked No More: Eunice Foote, Climate Scientist Lost to History
9. Job Opportunities
10. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
12. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
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1. 3 Tips for Women Faculty to Get Through #WFH, #socialdistancing, and #stayingwell
From: Vicki Baker via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
We, as academics and everyday citizens, find ourselves in strange times that can be described as chaotic, yet oddly calming at the same time. I say that as we see the first signs of spring surface (at least in the Midwest) letting us know that the world around us continues to move on as we compel ourselves to do the same. Yet, we are finding ourselves in unchartered waters, seeking to survive and make sense of our new normal, professional and personal, while trying to guess what life may look like moving forward.
Read more at
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2. Anticipated NASA Job Announcement: Astrophysics Program Scientist
From: Pat Knezek [patricia.m.knezek_at_nasa.gov]
The Astrophysics Division within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) anticipates one or more openings this summer for a scientist to serve as a civil servant Program Scientist at Headquarters in Washington, DC. The Program Scientist will work as part of a diverse and agile team whose core values include excellence, integrity, transparency, teamwork and a growth mindset toward stewarding the nation’s space-based astrophysics program.
Please note that this is a fair and open competition that all U.S. Citizens and Status candidates can apply to.
SMD Program Scientists have broad responsibility for advancing NASA’s astrophysics portfolio; serving as the Headquarters science leads for one or more missions; developing and shaping multimillion-dollar scientific research grants programs selected through competitive peer review; and leading NASA’s preparation for implementing the recommendations of the 2020 Decadal Survey. Program Scientists have substantial influence over high-level astrophysics strategic planning, as well as leading the long-term scientific direction of missions and programs that they oversee.
Given that the ad will be posted for only 5 days, please log into USAJOBS and update your username, password, resume, etc., to facilitate the timely submission of an application. You can also sign up for a notification using the features of the USAJOBS website.
The announcement and application will be found at
Learn more about NASA’s Astrophysics Division at
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3. Why Do Women Make Such Good Leaders During COVID-19?
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com] and Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
By Cami Anderson
"By the end of February, leaders across the globe were looking at the same facts: An invisible and dangerous enemy was fast approaching. COVID-19 was highly contagious, unpredictable, and deadly, even with an aggressive public policy response in China. So, what to do? How to prepare and respond? Leaders of cities, states and countries faced an unprecedented test.
The ones who passed this test with flying colors are disproportionately women. This is despite the fact that they make up only 7% of heads of state. "
Read more at
Read about 7 leadership lessons men can learn from women at
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4. No Room of One's Own
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Colleen Flaherty
"Early journal submission data suggest COVID-19 is tanking women's research productivity."
Read more at
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5. Even More Ways to Help Librarians and Archivists From Home
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]
By Jessica Leigh Hester
"A COUPLE WEEKS AGO, WE shared six digitization and transcription projects that curious and cooped-up readers can contribute to from home. As countries continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, many libraries and archives remain closed, and will likely stay shuttered for months. In the meantime, try sublimating your intellectual wanderlust with more ways to give researchers a (virtual) helping hand. These projects won’t help you stretch your legs, but they will give your brain a workout."
Read more at
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6. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Donovan Moore
"AFFIRMATIVE ACTION for portraits,” was how Nobel laureate Dudley R. Herschbach, Baird professor of science, described the oil painting of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin that he and his wife, associate dean of the College Georgene Botyas Herschbach, had commissioned. For years, he had argued that there were too few women on the faculty, and too little recognition for the few there were. The portrait would hang in University Hall’s Faculty Room where, in the winter of 2002, there was only one other painting of a woman: historian Helen Maud Cam."
Read more at
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7. Betty Shannon, Unsung Mathematical Genius
From: Jessica Mink [jmink_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
Claude Shannon is well-known as a mathematical founder of the field of information science, but it turns out that his wife, Betty Shannon was also a mathematician and a major contributor to his work. She started out as a computer at Bell Labs. Here's an interesting article from Scientific American's blog. It's 3 years old, but worth the read.
Read about Betty Shannon at
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8. Overlooked No More: Eunice Foote, Climate Scientist Lost to History
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
By John Schwartz
Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.
In the 1850s, Eunice Foote, an amateur scientist and activist for women’s rights, made a remarkable discovery about greenhouse gases that could have helped form the foundation of modern climate science.
But the scientific paper she published that might have added her name to the pantheon of early climate scientists was quickly forgotten, and she faded into obscurity. There isn’t even a known photograph of her today.
Read more at
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9. 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
- Lecturer of Astronomy at Northern Arizona University
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10. 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.
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11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
Join AAS Women List by email:
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12. Access to Past Issues
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
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