CSWA Splinter Session AAS 238: Current State of the Profession

Please join the CSWA on June 8, 2021, from 6:50 -7:50 PM EDT on Zoom for our splinter session at AAS 238.

“Current State of the Profession: Perspectives of Early Career Astronomers Through the Lenses of Diversity, Work-Life Balance, and Mentoring.” 

Program link: https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/9363/session/75 Session link at end of the post.

The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) will host a panel during the 238th AAS Meeting to capture the current state of the profession from the perspectives of early-career investigators (<15 years since terminal degree). Members of the AAS inclusion committees will be present to talk about their experiences, including challenges and successes. A Q&A session will facilitate interactions among panel members and attendees.

Panelists will include:

• Sarah Tuttle (University of Washington) 
• Melinda Soares-Furtado (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• Adam Leah Harvey (University of Maryland Baltimore County)

The upheaval in our lives in the past 15 months due to the pandemic is virtually universal. However, the effect of this upheaval hasn’t been equally borne by women and other members of demographic minorities, no matter their chosen profession. This extra burden is added to the (unfortunately) normal challenges of establishing themselves in a field where discrimination and harassment happens.

In this splinter session to the AAS 238 Meeting, we will begin a conversation about diversity, work-life balance, and mentoring have affected the career paths of early-career astronomers. For example:

• Have you felt that having a family conflicted with your career advancement? What are/were your concerns?
• What changes can be made to support astronomers with families?
• What qualities of a mentor make them effective?
• What advice do you have for a mentor who is working with astronomers who are different from themselves? What should they know that many don’t seem to have thought about?
• How can diverse categories of astronomers be supported in their education to complete their degrees?
• Have you ever felt unsafe/threatened at any point in your career? How can the astronomy community come together to prevent things like this from happening to others?

If there are questions you would like us to consider asking, please send them to amber.stuver_at_villanova.edu.

Zoom link: https://villanova.zoom.us/j/99521302851?pwd=U1l4R0RKanE1VjNrbU5rVnMydXBTUT09
Meeting ID: 995 2130 2851
Passcode: 628994