AASWomen Newsletter for June 19, 2020

Deniz Ikiz Kaya, hired by TUE’s new plan, Item 6.
Image credit: Angeline Swinkels/TUE

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of June 19, 2020
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, 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. Meet Central American-Caribbean Astronomy Bridge Program Fellows - Part 2

2. Nominate candidates for the The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) Board of Directors

3. APS Webinar on Making Physics Inclusive & Equitable

4. Meet the first all-female Air Force launch weather team who will work SpaceX Starlink launch

5. Moves are afoot in Africa to keep more women in science careers

6. "It's what students look for": the Dutch university that's only hiring women

7. Combating sexual harassment at the NIH

8. Job Opportunities

9. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

11. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

AASWOMEN Newsletter for April 22, 2016

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 22, 2016
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Elysse Voyer, & Heather Flewelling

This week's issues:

1. Social Justice in the Physics and Astronomy Classroom
2. White Privilege Conference 17      
3. President’s Column: Combatting Bias in the Trenches
4. The complex role of gender in faculty hiring
5. How Marvel's 'Thor' Contest Empowered a Group of Young Women Science Buffs
6. Why We Need Intersectionality Week  
7. Job Opportunities    
8. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

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1. Social Justice in the Physics and Astronomy Classroom  
From: Daryl Haggard via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

At the beginning of this winter term (in Montreal we don't even try to call it the "spring" term), I tried for the first time to directly address social justice issues, including racism and harassment, in my physics classroom…

With considerable trepidation, I tackled this the way brand new faculty tackle most things, I just tried something. And yes, it was clumsy. I share my experience here because I want to embolden other junior (and senior) faculty to take a stab at this conversation and because I would like to learn from those of you who have made (or will make) similar attempts.

Read more at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2016/04/social-justice-in-physics-and-astronomy.html  

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2.  White Privilege Conference 17
From: Ed Bertschinger via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

White people who want to improve the experiences of others have to work against the socialization and norms of society, which convey fear of people of color, of Muslims, of transgender people, of people with disabilities, and so on. If it was possible to be unaware of this fear and its impact before, this year's presidential campaign should make it clear to anyone, regardless of her/his/their politics, that we live in a divided and troubled society.

Read more  

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2016/04/white-privilege-conference-17.html

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3. President’s Column: Combatting Bias in the Trenches
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

In her column, AAS President Meg Urry urges us in the community to think about how to combat gender bias in proposal reviews.

Read more at

https://aas.org/posts/news/2016/04/president%E2%80%99s-column-combatting-bias-trenches

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4. The complex role of gender in faculty hiring
From:  Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

"Gender bias in hiring is not blatant...but gender-associated differences in productivity, postdoctoral experience, and institutional prestige of degree-granting institutions—which are likely due to bias against women during the training process—largely account for the observed gender imbalance in computer science faculty hiring networks."

Read more about hiring computer science faculty at

http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/04/complex-role-gender-faculty-hiring

Read "Gender, Productivity, and Prestige in Computer Science Faculty Hiring Networks" at

http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.00795

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5. How Marvel's 'Thor' Contest Empowered a Group of Young Women Science Buffs    
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

“Natalie Portman's physicist may not be returning for 'Thor: Ragnarok,' but her character has forever changed the lives of 10 girls from around the country who excel at STEM studies.”

Read more at

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-marvels-thor-contest-empowered-884464

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6. Why We Need Intersectionality Week
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry@yale.edu]

At the annual AAUW National Convention, a group of Younger Women’s Task Force chapter directors got together to discuss social justice, including the topic of intersectionality. As a result of those discussions, the first-ever YWTF Intersectionality Week will take place May 1–7.

Read more at

http://www.aauw.org/2016/04/13/intersectionality-week/

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7. Job Opportunities

For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease.

- Assistant Professor of Astronomy (tenure-track), University of Hawai`i at Hilo (Big Island)
   http://hilo.hawaii.edu/uhh/hr/vacancy/982

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8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_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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9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

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10. Access to Past Issues

http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html  

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

Hockey or STEM?

The below is a guest post written by Dr. Jo-Anne Brown. Dr. Brown is a radio astronomer and faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, cross-appointed to Natural Sciences, at the University of Calgary. 

Earlier this week I posted a Maclean's article on my FB page about the statistics of women in STEM, particularly in Canada. The article described the exodus of women out of careers in science as “death by a thousand cuts”, and identified a number of areas, including major award recipients, where women were vastly under-represented. One comment I received from a friend (and former student) was, “If 19% of first year [engineering] students are female, and 12% [of professional engineers] are female, that's of course a problem (both the low initial enrolment and the attrition). But if 18% of the [Canadian Science and Engineering] Hall of Famers and 28% of the Canada Research Chairs are women, wouldn't this indicate over-representation based on the percentage of women in STEM? ... How do we reconcile these numbers?”

Personal Experience with Hiring

My Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at Goddard has 14 scientists, most of whom are physicists and 50% of whom are women.  That is a high female fraction for a largely physics-oriented organization and I thought it would be useful to write today about how it came about.

Goddard has good policies about diversity in the workplace.  Here is the policy statement, known as the Business Case for Diversity at Goddard:  "It is the policy of NASA's GSFC to develop and maintain a vital and effective workforce by involving employees in the creation of a work environment conducive to their best performance according to the Center's values and goals.  Our objective is to foster an organizational climate where employee diversity and mutual respect are catalysts for creativity and team effectiveness."

There are also strong policies at NASA against discrimination and bias, but I like the fact that the diversity statement is aimed toward performance and team effectiveness, and was developed as a business case.  It is a good way to think about diversity and the best motivation for open hiring practices.

The female fraction in the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory has increased over the past 15 years, a time period in which more women candidates became available to apply for openings.  In all of our hires, the job was open to all candidates and selection was based on skills, publications, letters and interviews.

Mind the Gender Gap

A recent Nature article discusses problems with the hiring and retention of women in science and engineering.

The National Science Foundation finds that while female scientists have made steady gains in recent decades they face persistent career challenges. US universities and colleges employ far more male scientists than female ones and men earn significantly more in science occupations.

Nature, 495 2–24

(Re)starting the Discussion about Hiring Practices

Many of us received the following email from the AAS, containing a letter from David Helfand (AAS president) about hiring practices. I thought I'd repost it here, to provide a space for discussion about this topic.

What do you think? 

• Should we revamp our letter of recommendation system? 
• Should we set a deadline for faculty positions as we do for postdocs (Feb 15)? 
• Should departments cut down on the number of in-person campus interviews? 
• How can we create a more sustainable relationship between the number of PhDs and the job opportunities available? 
• What support should we be providing to better prepare our PhDs for the full range of interesting careers? 

Letter from Dr. Helfand:

For a significant fraction of our membership, February is probably not their favorite month. Despite being the calendrical midget with the smallest number of days, for those on the job market it probably produces the largest amount of anxiety. Indeed, the entire job search process seems to consume a larger number of months, a larger expenditure of resources, a larger amount of time, and a larger quantity of emotional energy than it did the last time I applied for a job 36 years ago. Should we reduce this burden? And, if so, how do we go about doing that? I certainly don't know the answer(s), but I think it is time to start asking the question(s).