Friday, June 21, 2024

AASWomen Newsletter June 21, 2024

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of June 21, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, and Hannah Jang-Condell

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

This week's issues:

1. Crosspost: From Rocket Science to Space Travel, This Unicorn Founder's Journey to Success
2. Interdisciplinary Workshop with Travel Support -- Exoplanets: Compositions, Mineralogy, Evolution
3. AAS Prize Nominations due 30 June 2024
4. The 2024 IAU Astronomy Education Prize is awarded to Linda Strubbe (AAS member) and Bonaventure Okere
5. Why Juneteenth matters for science
6. Call for nominations: 2025 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards
7. Calendar of STEM-related seasonal events and holidays
8. A survey of the severity of mental health symptoms in the planetary science community
9. Women Astronomers in Australia
10. Lynn Conway, microchip pioneer who overcame transgender discrimination, dies at 86
11. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
13. 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. Crosspost: From Rocket Science to Space Travel, This Unicorn Founder's Journey to Success
From: Ebony Flake, for 'Essence'

Today, Aisha Bowe is a two-time startup founder, including the elite engineering firm STEMBoard, twice acknowledged as one of America’s fastest-growing. She’s also a Blue Origin astronaut, a business thought leader, and a former NASA aerospace engineer. It’s been an exciting journey for that spunky teen unclear about her path. “I still, to this day, can’t understand why society expects you to know what you want to be before you even begin to understand who you are,” she told ESSENCE.

Read more at:

https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/aisha-bowe-rocket-science-unicorn-founder/ and

https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2024/06/crosspost-from-rocket-science-to-space.html

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2. Interdisciplinary Workshop with Travel Support -- Exoplanets: Compositions, Mineralogy, Evolution
From: Natalie Hinkel [natalie.hinkel_at_gmail.com]

Exoplanets! Formation! Evolution! And you! Participate in a great interdisciplinary workshop at Goldschmidt24 that will feature talks+discussions on astronomy, geology, and astrobiology to help bridge the gap in exoplanet characterization. The speakers of the workshop -- all experts in their field -- have come together to write the Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry (RiMG) book: “Exoplanets: Compositions, Mineralogy, Evolution.” The chapters are primers, focused on understanding/learning about other disciplines and are catered to non-expert scientists, and will be the focus of the talks. The hope for our workshop is to spur interdisciplinary conversations and initiate collaborations, as well as explain the current state of the field and teach one another about our respective fields. Plus, everyone gets a copy of the book with registration!

Dates: August 17-18, 2024 in Chicago, right before Goldschmidt2024.

Registration: Cost is $260 (reg) / $210 (students). Includes lunch and coffee for both days, as well as a copy of the RiMG book!

Travel support: The organizers have secured NASA funding to offset domestic travel and registration costs for U.S.-based researchers. Interested attendees can apply for funding here: https://forms.gle/F8QkqKuPhqCTsnow6 Forms submitted by June 23 will receive full consideration. We expect to notify applicants by June 26, 2024. The workshop registration deadline is July 1, 2024.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Natalie Hinkel at natalie.hinkel_at_gmail.com.

Read more at

https://tinyurl.com/Goldschmidt24Exoplanets

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3. AAS Prize Nominations due 30 June 2024
From: AAS

AAS honors, prizes, and awards for which nominations, including self-nominations, are due on 30 June, 2024. Nominate a woman!

Read more at:

https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/prize-nominations

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4. The 2024 IAU Astronomy Education Prize is awarded to Linda Strubbe (AAS member) and Bonaventure Okere
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.edu]

By: AAS

The 2024 IAU Astronomy Education Prize is awarded to Linda Strubbe (AAS member) and Bonaventure Okere for their leadership in creating high-quality educational experiences in astronomy for African university students. Bonaventure Okere led the foundation of the Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers (PASEA) at the IAU XXVIII General Assembly in Beijing to improve STEM education in Nigeria and Africa. Linda Strubbe has been central in creating very high-quality educational experiences in PASEA through her design, leadership, and teaching. Her work draws on a particularly strong evidence base across the educational curriculum, from professional development for PASEA instructors to the evaluation of student learning. The inquiry-based curriculum intertwines teaching content with scientific practices and is highly regarded by students, building on Bonaventure Okere’s vision of leveraging the world-class astronomy facilities on the continent.

Read more at:

https://aas.org/posts/news/2024/06/iau-announces-astronomy-outreach-development-education-prizes-winners

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5. Why Juneteenth matters for science
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

By: Antentor O. Hinton

Even if you ignore recent policy changes banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the country, the picture for science remains far from equitable and inclusive. This is exemplified by the lower recruitment and retention rates for Black students and other under-represented groups — a situation related to numerous factors, including discrimination, preconceived ideas based on skin colour, a lack of role models and inadequate encouragement for young Black students, according to a report by the Pew Research Center, a think tank in Washington DC.

Academic researchers might like to think that science is no longer racist; however, contrary to popular belief, it continues to be so.

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02855-4?

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6. Call for nominations: 2025 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]

By: UNESCO

The five laureates will be selected by an international jury for their exceptional contribution to scientific advancement and will be awarded during the International Awards Ceremony, to be held in June 2025 in Paris (date to be confirmed).Each of the Laureates will receive €100,000. Deadline 1 July, 2024.

Read more at:

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/call-nominations-2025-loreal-unesco-women-science-international-awards

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7. Calendar of STEM-related seasonal events and holidays
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]

By: NISE Network

Ideas for incorporating STEM content into holidays, seasons, annual events, and special programming throughout the year. In case you are interested in using STEM with holidays.

Read more at:

https://www.nisenet.org/seasons

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8. A survey of the severity of mental health symptoms in the planetary science community
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion]

David Tang -Nature

David Trang (University of Hawaii) and colleagues have published the results of a survey of the Planetary Science community, to assess workplace culture and mental wellness in particular.

They write, "Our 2022 mental health survey of the planetary science community suggests that the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the community is greater than in the general US population. Furthermore, anxiety and depressive symptoms are more severe for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers than any other career stage. Comparing groups within planetary science, we found that anxiety, depressive and/or stress symptoms appear greater among marginalized groups, such as women, people of colour and members of the LGBTQ+ community."

Read the peer-reviewed article at

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02293-w

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9. Women Astronomers in Australia
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.edu]

By: Ragbir Bhathal

Australia has a great tradition in astronomy, from the early observations of Aboriginal people through the colonial drive to explore and understand, culminating in the established excellence of research there today. Women have contributed to this achievement in no small way, yet their contribution has been unremarked, if not ignored. Here I summarize the historical and present state of affairs and look forward to a brighter and more equitable future.

Read more at:

https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/42/4/4.29/180667

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10. Lynn Conway, microchip pioneer who overcame transgender discrimination, dies at 86
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]

By: Ed White

Lynn Conway, a pioneer in the design of microchips that are at the heart of consumer electronics who overcame discrimination as a transgender person, has died at age 86.

Her June 9 death was announced by the University of Michigan, where Conway was on the engineering faculty until she retired in 1998.

“She overcame so much, but she didn’t spend her life being angry about the past,” said Valeria Bertacco, computer science professor and U-M vice provost. “She was always focused on the next innovation.”

Read More At:

https://apnews.com/article/lynn-conway-death-scientist-transgender-951e1378c257bda707224686bebb0507

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11. 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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12. 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/aaswlist/subscribe/ and enter your name and email address, 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.

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13. Access to Past Issues

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/search/label/AASWOMEN

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