Women In Astronomy: AASWomen Newsletter for September 2, 2022

AAS Committee on the Status of Women

Dr. Kathryn Flanagan (Credit: STScI)

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of September 02, 2022
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Alessandra Aloisi, and Sethanne Howard

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

This week's issues:

1. Kathryn Flanagan and the Vision Behind the James Webb Space Telescope

2. Meet the 2 SC women leading NASA teams for the Monday Artemis moon launch

3. Gender-diverse teams produce more novel, higher-impact scientific discoveries, study shows

4. In STEM Equality Is Evasive, But Progress Is Real

5. Maryland Is No. 1 in Best States for Gender Equality

6. Balancing act: You’re not alone on your tightrope

7. Men outnumber women by more than 2 to 1 in US federal science jobs

8. Women’s Equality Day – How can tech companies bridge the gender gap?

9. NRAO’s Central Development Laboratory to Launch New Women in Engineering Program

10. 2023 NASA Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS) Applications Due September 28, 2022

11. Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics 2023 - Applications Open

12. Job Opportunities

13. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

14. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

15. Access to Past Issues

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

1. Kathryn Flanagan and the Vision Behind the James Webb Space Telescope
From Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]

By Michell Hampson

“On December 25, 2021, people around the world held their breath as an Ariane 5 rocket took off carrying one of the most renowned scientific instruments in human history: the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Over a decade of work, collectively done by an estimated 10,000 scientists and experts, hinged on this moment and the next 29 days of deployment that followed. The mission was a huge success, bringing JWST to its resting spot a million miles from Earth, unfolded and ready to observe the early universe in all its glory. For AAAS Fellow Kathryn Flanagan, who served as the JWST Mission Head during the early years of the telescope’s development, this was an emotional and powerful event - and a long one in the making.”

2. Meet the 2 SC women leading NASA teams for the Monday Artemis moon launch
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Lyn Riddle

“A few years ago, Vanessa Wyche was in the launch control complex at Kennedy Space Center when she saw a woman wearing a Clemson University lanyard attached to a NASA badge. ‘Hey,’ she said excitedly to Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. Despite studying at Clemson’s engineering department for a few years at the same time, the women had never met. But their stories are remarkably similar. Wyche is the director at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Blackwell-Thompson is the launch director at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, where the unmanned spacecraft Artemis is scheduled to launch Saturday afternoon. Both women are working on America’s return to the moon, where astronauts will build a base to enable missions to Mars.”

3. Gender-diverse teams produce more novel, higher-impact scientific discoveries, study shows
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Shannon Roddel

“The number of medical science publications by mixed-gender teams has grown rapidly over the past two decades, but remains underrepresented compared to what would be expected by chance. New research from the University of Notre Dame examines about 6.6 million papers published across the medical sciences since 2000 and reveals that a team’s gender balance is an under-recognized, yet powerful indicator of novel and impactful scientific discoveries.”

Read the original study at

https://www.pnas.org/eprint/4IGZFMNEF42XY3FFMKNE/full

4. In STEM Equality Is Evasive, But Progress Is Real
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Susan Milligan

“In a science and technology world where women often feel excluded or unwelcome, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is an oasis of opportunity and support for female scholars.Women are eligible for generous scholarships through the Center for Women in Technology, and are ‘mentored to death’ - teamed up with a peer, a faculty member and industry leaders, as the center's director, Carolyn Seaman, puts it. Both women and men are schooled in how to work well together in a professional work environment. The Meyerhoff Scholars Program supports women and other underrepresented groups who pursue doctorates or medical degrees in STEM. UMBC used a National Science Foundation grant to find ways to put more women in the STEM faculty.”

5. Maryland Is No. 1 in Best States for Gender Equality
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Devon Haynie and Christopher Wolf

“Maryland ranks No. 1 in a new U.S. News & World Report analysis comparing outcomes in gender parity. Rounding out the top 5 states are Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont and Illinois. Idaho falls in last place, followed by Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Utah and Wyoming. Maryland took the top spot in the ranking’s education category, placing first among its peers for lower gender disparities in math and reading scores for eighth graders, and third among them for four-year public college graduation rates. Experts say Maryland, under the last two governors – a Democrat and a Republican – has prioritized K-12 education even as other states have scaled back funding.”

6. Balancing act: You’re not alone on your tightrope
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]

By Danielle Guarracino

“As yet another late night ticked by, the clock showing 3 a.m. pass to 4 a.m., I found myself getting restless. I needed to grade more lab reports, review the next day’s slides for my virtual biochemistry classroom and, maybe, put some of my toddler’s toys away so we could walk in the house without damaging a foot. Somewhere between tired and too wired for sleep, I found myself scrolling through Instagram for the tenth time that night. I don’t remember exactly when in the endless pandemic nights I found them, but there they were, just when I needed them - groups of people who identify as mothers who also work in science. It was a community of people in situations like mine, and an array of other situations, with stories to tell and a virtual common ground. These informative, funny, strong people provided me inspiration when I least expected it. I want to tell you about them, but first let me tell you a little about myself.”

7. Men outnumber women by more than 2 to 1 in US federal science jobs
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Chris Woolston

“Women hold just 29% of the 335,412 jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the US federal government, according to a report published by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The report is based on data from 2019. The gender disparity is even greater in supervisory and leadership roles, in which women occupy just 26% of positions. The under-representation of women among leaders has contributed to a gender-based pay gap. On average, women in federal research jobs earned just over US$84,600 per year - about $4,300 less than men earned.”

Read the full report at

https://www.eeoc.gov/special-topics-annual-report-women-stem

8. Women’s Equality Day – How can tech companies bridge the gender gap?
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By open Access Government

“It is no secret on Women’s Equality day that the tech industry is male-dominated and that there are still large disparities when it comes to gender representation. Women’s Equality Day is a great time to draw attention to this and display how companies can be more accommodating to women moving forward.”

9. NRAO’s Central Development Laboratory to Launch New Women in Engineering Program
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]

By NRAO

“Following a generous grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Central Development Laboratory (CDL) at NSF’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) will soon launch an ambitious Women in Engineering program that will increase opportunities for women to enter the field of radio astronomy through engineering pathways. The program will include a postdoctoral fellowship and a co-op program for undergraduate and graduate students.

As part of NRAO’s ongoing commitment to women in engineering, the new fellowship program will support outstanding postdoctoral women engineers whose research is related to the organization’s mission. These fellows, who will be granted two-year appointments, will spend up to 75 percent of their time on self-directed research while also contributing to the Observatory’s development and delivery of radio astronomy techniques, capabilities, or education and public outreach activities. The co-op program will provide six-month laboratory work experiences for graduate and undergraduate women engineering students, giving them the opportunity to contribute to and learn from ongoing research and engineering projects. The CDL team additionally hopes that at least some of the fellows and co-op students from the program will go on to permanent employment with NRAO.”

10. 2023 NASA Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS) Applications Due September 28, 2022
From: Leslie Lowes [Leslie.L.Lowes_at_jpl.nasa.gov]

AMDS is a 3-month long career development experience to learn the development of a hypothesis-driven robotic space mission in a concurrent engineering environment. Get an in-depth, first-hand look at mission design, life cycle, costs, schedule & inherent trade-offs. AMDS is led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, collaborating with Goddard Space Flight Center.

Science & engineering doctoral candidates, recent PhDs, postdocs, & junior faculty who are U.S. Citizens or legal permanent residents (& a limited number of Foreign Nationals from non-designated counties) are eligible. Applicants from diverse backgrounds are particularly encouraged - we highly value diversity, equity, & inclusion.

Dates: January 30-April 14, 2023

AMDS has a workload equivalent to rigorous 3-credit graduate-level course. Participants act as an astrophysics mission team in the first 10 weeks of preparatory webinars, with the final culminating week mentored by JPL’s Advanced Project Design “Team X” to refine the mission concept design & present it to a mock expert review board. The culminating week is typically at JPL; it could be virtual due to on-going Covid-19 pandemic conditions.

View the recording of the AMDS informational session at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWdc9gVhAcc

11. Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics 2023 - Applications Open
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]

By APS Physics

"APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) are three-day regional conferences for undergraduate physics majors.

The goal of APS CUWiP is to help undergraduate women continue in physics by providing them with the opportunity to experience a professional conference, information about graduate school and professions in physics, and access to other women in physics of all ages with whom they can share experiences, advice, and ideas. The national and local organizing committees of APS CUWiP strive to create a welcoming environment for all, including undergraduate women and gender minorities.

CUWiP 2023 will be held Friday, January 20 - Sunday, January 22, 2023. Applications are open as of August 29, 2022, and close October 10, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. ET."

12. 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

- Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Cosmological Astrophysics, Department of Astronomy, Boston University, Boston, MA https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/22338

- Community Scientist for Documentation, Rubin Observatory, NOIRLab, Hilo, HI https://recruiting2.ultipro.com/SPA1004AURA/JobBoard/9eb88b35-a884-4935-9c1e-0ce6bbf2a741/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=2c1c8d0c-fd88-44c9-89f2-5a2b5fe39c0a

13. 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 .

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14. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

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15. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

Women In Astronomy

Friday, September 2, 2022

AASWomen Newsletter for September 2, 2022

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