Friday, July 23, 2021

AASWomen Newsletter for July 23, 2021

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of July 23, 2021
eds: Heather Flewelling, Nicolle Zellner, Maria Patterson, Alessandra Aloisi, and Jeremy Bailin

[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. Be well! --eds.]

This week's issues:

1. Crosspost: How Dragonfly will explore Saturn's 'bizarro Earth' moon, Titan

2. Announcement of Opportunity: AAS-EPD Mini-Grant Program

3. Call for NASA Keck Key Strategic Mission Support Proposals for 2022A

4. NASA investigates renaming James Webb telescope after anti-LGBT+ claims

5. Survey finds bullying and harassment systemic in astronomy and geophysics

6. Amid turmoil, Afghan female students win award at International Astronomy Competition

7. Fixing A Physics Culture Problem

8. Why science needs a new reward and recognition system

9. The parenting penalties faced by scientist mothers

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

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.


1. Crosspost: How Dragonfly will explore Saturn's 'bizarro Earth' moon, Titan
From: Bryné Hadnott via http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

Why send a typical lander when you can send a dual-quadcopter?

That's the question Dr. Elizabeth Tuttle and her team at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory asked when they developed NASA's next New Frontiers mission to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The dual-quadcopter, aptly named Dragonfly, will carry a suite of instruments designed to analyze Titan's surface, which can vary from pure water ice to crumbly, orange-tinted organic sands.

Read more at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2021/07/crosspost-how-dragonfly-will-explore.html

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2. Announcement of Opportunity: AAS-EPD Mini-Grant Program
From: Kim Coble [kcoble_at_sfsu.edu]

AAS Education & Professional Development: AAS EPD Mini-Grants

Cycles 2021.02 and 2022.01: Proposals submitted for any activities in 2021 will be evaluated on a rolling basis subject to the availability of funds. Complete proposals for activities in 2022 submitted by 9 August 2021 at 11:59 pm ET will receive full consideration; proposals submitted after that deadline may or may not be considered, subject to the availability of funds.

Application form: aas.org/epd | Email questions to camillia.taylor_at_aas.org

Summary

The Education Committee of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) invites proposals from US-based AAS members to provide education-related mentoring and professional-development experiences for fellow members. Suitable venues for such experiences include (but are not limited to) AAS and Division meetings, college and university campuses, museums, planetariums, observatories, and online webinars and hangouts.

The AAS-EPD mini-grant program will provide direct funding and logistical support for these experiences but will not pay any indirect costs (e.g., overhead). Individual grants will range from $1,000 to $10,000, with a typical amount of approximately $3,500 or less. Note: Proposers requesting to present a workshop at the 239th AAS meeting in Salt Lake City must ALSO fill out the AAS Workshop Proposal Form by 9 August 2021. Note: You must log in with your AAS membership credentials to access the meetings workshop proposal form. Proposals submitted after that deadline may or may not be considered, subject to the availability of funds.

For more info see

https://aas.org/education/professional-development

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3. Call for NASA Keck Key Strategic Mission Support Proposals for 2022A
From: Ellen O'Leary [ellen_at_ipac.caltech.edu]

NASA is a partner in the Keck telescopes, allocating ~47 nights/semester. For the 2022A proposal cycle, in addition to General Observing and Mission Support proposals, NASA is soliciting proposals for large Key Strategic Mission Support (KSMS) programs. Also, in 2022A, the NASA Keck proposal review will use a Dual Anonymous Proposal Review (DAPR) process.

KSMS projects may support past, present, and/or future missions, including JWST. Between 10-60 nights total over 2 years will be allocated between one or more KSMS projects with a maximum of 15 nights/semester. An important element of KSMS programs is a plan for timely release of processed data through the Keck Observatory Archive in a form suitable for use by the broader community.

Required but non-binding Notices of Intent (NOI) for KSMS programs are due by August 16, 2021.

Key Dates:

July 30: Call for Proposals and NOI submission site available

August 16: NOIs due by 4 pm Pacific

September 2: Deadline to request a written letter of endorsement from NASA HQ

September 16: Proposals and letters of support due by 4 pm Pacific

Questions: keckcfp_at_ipac.caltech.edu

Read the full NASA Keck KSMS announcement at

https://nexsci.caltech.edu/missions/KSA/22A_KSMS.pdf

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4. NASA investigates renaming James Webb telescope after anti-LGBT+ claims
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]

"NASA is considering whether to rename its flagship astronomical observatory, given reports alleging that James Webb, after whom it is named, was involved in persecuting gay and lesbian people during his career in government. Keeping his name on the US$8.8-billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — set to launch later this year — would glorify bigotry and anti-LGBT+ sentiment, say some astronomers. But others say there is not yet enough evidence against Webb, who was head of NASA from 1961 to 1968, and they are withholding judgement until the agency has finished an internal investigation."

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02010-x

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5. Survey finds bullying and harassment systemic in astronomy and geophysics
From: Rick Fienberg [rick.fienberg_at_aas.org]

"Results from a new survey of astronomers and geophysicists show that these sciences have a systemic bullying problem; one that is disproportionately worse for women and those from minority groups. In a survey carried out by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) last year of over 650 people in the field, 44% of respondents had suffered bullying and harassment in the workplace within the preceding 12 months. Aine O'Brien, RAS Diversity Officer, will present the key results in a talk at the virtual National Astronomy Meeting on Thursday 22 July.

Key initial findings show: Disabled, and Black and minority ethnic astronomers and geophysicists are 40% more likely to be bullied than their non-disabled and White colleagues respectively.Women and non-binary people in the field are 50% more likely than men to be bullied and harassed.50% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer astronomers and geophysicists were bullied in the last 12 months, and 12% of bisexual astronomers reported being bullied at least once a week."

Read more at

https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/survey-finds-bullying-and-harassment-systemic-astronomy-and-geophysics

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6. Amid turmoil, Afghan female students win award at International Astronomy Competition
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]

"Kabul, July 19: Amid the turmoil in Afghanistan following US troop withdrawal, a group of Afghan female students from Herat won an award at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition, which was hosted by Poland and was held online in the first week of July.

The event was an international science competition that enables students from all countries to prove their skills and to unleash their creativity in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics."

Read more at

https://www.newkerala.com/news/2021/101930.htm

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7. Fixing A Physics Culture Problem
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

"A few years ago, while listening to a 'well-meaning' talk at an annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society, Karina Voggel, an astrophysicist at the Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, France, came to a realization. The talk provided tips on surviving academia as a woman; her insight - telling women how to fit into the existing academic system is a fundamentally flawed route to keeping women in the field. This method, she says, puts the pressure on women to adapt while leaving the system - and its problems - completely unchanged."

Read more at

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/106

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8. Why science needs a new reward and recognition system
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

Results of a study of 151 researchers show that researchers with children or carer roles have struggled more than others during the pandemic, amplifying existing inequalities.

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01952-6

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9. The parenting penalties faced by scientist mothers
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

"Yhasmin Moura's research was not the only thing on her mind in 2017 when she was considering postdoctoral positions in the United Kingdom and her home nation of Brazil. Moura was pregnant at the time, so parental-leave policies were a top concern.

Even though it meant moving far away from her extended family, Moura chose a placement at Lancaster University, UK, largely because it offered a full year of paid maternity leave. The Brazil placement would have given her only four months of unpaid maternity leave. 'The pregnancy defined my position and determined a completely different future for me,' says Moura, a geographer and remote-sensing researcher who is now a postdoc at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany."

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01993-x

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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_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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11. 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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12. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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