Issue of January 28, 2022
eds: Heather Flewelling, Nicolle Zellner, Alessandra Aloisi, Jeremy Bailin and Sethanne Howard
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. Be well! --eds.]
This week's issues:
From item 2.1. Crosspost: Who gets to use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope? Astronomers work to fight bias
2. Ellen Harding Baker and Cosmic Threads: A Solar System Quilt from 1876
3. More women in a STEM field leads people to label it as a ‘soft science,’ according to new research
4. With Stars in Their Eyes: The Extraordinary Lives and Enduring Genius of Aden and Marjorie Meinel
5. IAU: Women and Girls in Astronomy
6. Guide for Educators about Women in Astronomy
7. Astrono-Mom Conversation Series
9. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to 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: Who gets to use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope? Astronomers work to fight bias
From: Bryne Hadnott via http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
By Nell Greenfieldboyce for NPR
"The scientists who eventually get to peer out at the universe with NASA's powerful new James Webb Space Telescope will be the lucky ones whose research proposals made it through a highly competitive selection process.
But those that didn't make the cut this time can at least know that they got a fair shot, thanks to lessons learned from another famous NASA observatory."
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2022/01/crosspost-who-gets-to-use-nasas-james.html
Back to top.2. Ellen Harding Baker and Cosmic Threads: A Solar System Quilt from 1876
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Maria Popova
"In October of 1883, a paper in the nation’s capital reported under the heading “Current Gossip” that “an Iowa woman has spent seven years embroidering the solar system on a quilt” — a news item originally printed in Iowa and syndicated widely in newspapers across the country that autumn and winter. The New York Times reprinted the report as it appeared in the Iowa paper, dismissively qualifying it as a “somewhat comical statement.”
The woman in question, Ellen Harding Baker (June 8, 1847–March 30, 1886), was not a person to be dismissed with a patronizing chuckle. Baker taught science in rural Iowa, in an era when most institutions of higher education were still closed to women, all the whilst raising her five surviving children. She used her Solar System quilt to illustrate her astronomy lectures. To ensure the accuracy of her embroidered depiction, Baker traveled to the Chicago Observatory to view sunspots and a comet — most likely the Great Comet of 1882, which had become a national attraction — through the professional telescope there."
Read more at
https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/12/06/ellen-harding-baker-solar-system-quilt
Back to top.3. More women in a STEM field leads people to label it as a ‘soft science,’ according to new research
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Alysson Light
"Women’s participation varies across STEM disciplines. While women have nearly reached gender parity in biomedical sciences, they still make up only about 18% of students receiving undergraduate degrees in computer science, for instance.
In a series of experiments, we varied the information study participants read about women’s representation in fields like chemistry, sociology and biomedical sciences. We then asked them to categorize these fields as either a “soft science” or a “hard science.”
Across studies, participants were consistently more likely to describe a discipline as a “soft science” when they’d been led to believe that proportionally more women worked in the field. Moreover, the “soft science” label led people to devalue these fields – describing them as less rigorous, less trustworthy and less deserving of federal research funding."
Read more at
Back to top.4. With Stars in Their Eyes: The Extraordinary Lives and Enduring Genius of Aden and Marjorie Meinel
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]
By James B. Breckinridge and Alec M. Pridgeon
"This book details the lives of two married geniuses, Aden and Marjorie Meinel, who helped to pioneer modern optics and solar energy in the US Aden B. Meinel and Marjorie P. Meinel. The Meinel Reducing Camera for the U. S. Naval Observatory's 60-inch telescope, Flagstaff, Arizona, comprises an f /10 collimator."
Information about the book is at
https://www.google.com/books/edition/With_Stars_in_Their_Eyes/mw5YEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
Also see information about the instrument at
Back to top.5. IAU: Women and Girls in Astronomy
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]
By Edward Gomez
"Every year, from February 11 to March 8, the IAU Outreach Global Project Women and Girls in Astronomy promotes the inclusive advancement of astronomy by highlighting the importance of gender inclusivity and best practices, fomenting the uptake of astronomy by girls and non-binary folks, and highlighting the contributions of women and non-binary folks to astronomy.
I am reaching out today to share the programme for this year and also ask for your help in engaging the members of Division C with the project.
Women and Girls in Astronomy project is interested in sharing role models and inclusion videos. Role Model videos aim to inspire the next generation of female-identifying astronomers, while inclusion videos show astronomers commitment to building a more gender-inclusive astronomy landscape. More information on how to participate can be found in the attached doc.
I would also be very grateful if you could please help us promote the programme and share it with your community. Feel free to use the visual material attached to this email when sharing."
Read more at:
https://www.iau.org/public/women-and-girls-in-astronomy
Back to top.6. Guide for Educators about Women in Astronomy
From: Andrew Fraknoi [fraknoiandrew_at_fhda.edu]
A newly expanded and updated guide to resources for teaching about the challenges that face women in astronomy, and the achievements that women have made despite those challenges, is now available.
The materials have been selected so they can be assigned to students at the Astro 101 level. The guide was compiled by Andrew Fraknoi, Emeritus Chair of Astronomy at Foothill College and the former executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
After sections listing resources on general history and issues related to women’s roles in astronomy, the guide features more specific books, articles, videos, and webpages on 19 women of the past and 21 women of today. At the end of the 28-page document, there is a listing of one or two resources about 27 other women whose work students may be interested in.
(NOTE: Given the growing number of women who are making important contributions to astronomy, this guide could only be representative, and not comprehensive. One important criterion for inclusion was that non-technical materials about each woman had to be available for non-science majors.)
Read more at
http://bit.ly/womenastronomers
Back to top.7. Astrono-Mom Conversation Series
From: Melinda Soares-Furtado [msoares.physics_at_gmail.com]
The Astrono-Mom Conversation Series will take place the first Tuesday of every month at 3 pm Central from Feb-June 2022. We then break for summer and begin anew in September.
This is an informal, virtual meeting held for mothers who work as pre-tenure astronomers. We began meeting in August of 2020, as a support network during the pandemic and have continued meeting ever since.
A blurb about our meetings: Building communities that span our relevant axes of identity is invaluable. Due to the pandemic, many of us have started new positions and remain unable to fully integrate into our respective departments. In addition, these circumstances result in working parents fulfilling additional roles at home. I hope that these conversations might help reduce feelings of isolation while strengthening our sense of identity as professional astronomers. Each month, we meet to share helpful tips and strategies, share job opportunities in our respective departments, and forge new opportunities for collaboration.
While this series began as a response to increased challenges spurred by a global pandemic, we have come to realize that even under normal circumstances it is often difficult to build community with other early career mothers. We, therefore, are eager to see this series continue long into the future.
For more information, contact Drs. Melinda Soares-Furtado (mmsoares_at_wisc.edu) or Veronica Allen (veroism_at_googlemail.com).
Back to top.8. 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#howtoincrease
- Remote Observer, Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Kamuela, HI https://cfht.applicantpro.com/jobs/2188552.html
Back to top.9. 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.
Back to top.10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
Join AAS Women List through the online portal:
To Subscribe, go to https://aas.simplelists.com and in the "Subscribe" area, add in your name, email address, select "The AASWomen Weekly Newsletter", and click subscribe. You will be sent an email with a link to click to confirm subscription.
To unsubscribe from AAS Women by email:
Go to https://aas.simplelists.com in the "My account and unsubscriptions", type your email address. You will receive an email with a link to access your account, from there you can click the unsubscribe link for this mailing list.
Back to top.11. Access to Past Issues
https://aas.org/comms/cswa/AASWOMEN
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered. To unsubscribe from this list please go to http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=tPDHmuOfwhzxceo8ZOqagiyV6Ez5zROv
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