Census: Women in Astronomy/Science Groups

This post is the sixth in a series on starting up and supporting a Women in Astronomy/Science group at your university or national lab. Click here, here, and here for previous posts by guest-blogger Meredith Danowski and here for my post on the AAS Spring panel discussion on this topic.

Recently a friend asked for advice on creating a website for the WOWSAP (Women of Wisconsin Strengthening Astronomy and Physics) mentoring and networking group at UW-Madison*. She wondered if there were websites for other Women in Astronomy/Science groups she could model hers on.

In responding to her, I thought I’d send the response out into the ether as well. Seeing the events and types of support these groups provide and the topics of discussion they focus on has given us many an idea for our own endeavors.

With that in mind, if you notice any groups, including those without websites, that I’ve missed (of which there are surely many), PLEASE let me know. The info is very useful to us at the CSWA, and I’ll post the final list at our resources link for all to access.

Women in Astronomy Groups:

• UC-Boulder
• University of Arizona (website?)
• CfA
• NASA (Women@NASA is a great site for EPO, but is there an internal group?)

Women in Physics & Astronomy Groups

• UW-Madison (website in progress)
• University of Minnesota

Women in Physics Groups

• MIT
• UC-Santa Barbara
• UC-Berkeley
• Purdue
• Ohio State University
• Oregon State University
• University of Michigan

(Many universities have Women in Physics/Science groups, but these websites provide more than just name and bylaws).

Women in Science Groups

• Boston University
• Harvard
• Michigan State University
• Washington State University
• Penn State University
• University of Rochester
• Texas A&M

Working Groups

• AAS Committee on the Status of Women
• IAU Women in Astronomy
• Astronomical Society of Australia
• Women in Planetary Science
• American Physical Society

*A few years ago a group of intrepid, goat-loving grad students founded WOWSAP, basing it on the UofAz group. It’s a pleasure to see that it continues to serve the department today, because of a few energetic and dedicated women grad students.

From: L. Trouille

AASWOMEN for August 19, 2011

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 19, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. New CSWA Member

2. How to Encourage More Girls to Enter Science?

3. L'Oreal USA Announces Recipients of 2011 for Women in Science Fellowships

4. Resource Guide on Women in Astronomy

5. Advice for Starting a New Postdoc

6. Why the AAS Needs the CSWA

7. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN Newsletter

8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN Newsletter

9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWOMEN Newsletter

Why the AAS Needs the CSWA

I’ve spent some time this summer compiling information on the History of CSWA (more on that in the weeks to come). During this historical journey, I reread some of the old issues of the STATUS magazine and come across an article in the Oct 1987 issue written by then CSWA chair (and current AAS VP) Lee Anne Willson entitled, “Why the AAS Needs the CSWA.”

This is a topic that comes up every once in a while, and Lee Anne’s thoughtful and articulate summary is well worth reading. She summarizes five points:

- provides increased visibility to the community of women astronomers;
-monitors the AAS policies and publications to prevent bias;
-collects and distributes information on careers in astronomy;
-provides a channel for complaints concerning discriminatory policies or practices; and
-promotes discussion and sharing of ideas concerning the extra complications associated with the combination of an astronomical career with the other obligations.

To read more:

http://www.aas.org/cswa/status/status_oct1987.pdf

I was a newly minted PhD when this article came out in 1987, and in some ways, CSWA is still working on the same issues. Should we be discouraged because we have not made more progress? No! I feel that my career in astronomy has now been long enough to have personally witnessed real progress. Although sexual harassment and discrimination still exist, the number of incidents has waned significantly. It is true that this progress has uncovered a new set of problems, e.g., unconscious bias and astronomical bullying, but we are developing methods to deal with these as well. As I happily cram as much science as possible into what is left of the summer, I realize that I am grateful to Lea Anne and all the other CSWA members who went before me and made it possible for me to do the astronomy I love so much. A full list of all those members going back to the founding of CSWA (and before) is coming soon. Stay tuned!

From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]

AASWOMEN for August 12, 2011

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 12, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. Gender Gap in Lifetime Earning

2. Educator workshops for astronomy educators

3. Discover Earth Opportunities for Libraries

4. Webinar on Physics Career Options for Physics Bachelor Degrees

5. Job Opportunities

6. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

7. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

8. Access to Past Issues

AASWOMEN for August 5, 2011

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 5, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. CSWA Resources Web Page

2. How to Solve the 'Women in Science' Gap? Teach Girls to Love Science

3. Female students in high school physics

4. Overcoming the imposter syndrome

5. Women in Science Work for Less Money

6. Call for Nominations: 2012-2015 MIT Pappalardo Fellowships in Physics

7. Call for Nominations - 2012 Alan T. Waterman Award

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

How to encourage more girls to enter science?

Women earn the majority of college degrees in the U.S. and, since 2009, the majority of doctorates. This is not the case in astronomy or physics. Why are we different?

The American Institute of Physics has studied the enrollments of girls and boys in high school physics classes and AP exams in a recent report. Physics is important preparation for STEM degrees. The good news is that the percentage of girls taking high school physics has grown more rapidly than for boys. The bad news is that fewer girls are electing to take AP Physics and even fewer are electing to take the AP exams. As AIP authors Susan White and Casey Langer Tesfaye note, "To examine why, we would need to look at factors which impacted these students before their final years of high school. Did something in the earlier science curriculum discourage girls from more advanced physics? Or was it the general belief, widely embraced in our culture, that girls just don’t 'do' hard sciences?"

Although we may not know the answers, I think we know some of the solutions. Girls in middle school -- high school may be too late -- must be shown the value of math and science and encouraged to believe that it offers them exciting career choices. They need to see science as something cool that girls do. They need role models and mentoring. The difficulty is less in identifying solutions than in implementing them.

Here's one more need: universities need to value more the outreach efforts made by some students, postdocs, staff, and faculty to attract more young people to science and engineering. This will require the scientific profession itself to value outreach more highly. Too often it seems to be an add-on to research grants and not valued for its own sake. At my own institution, I'm impressed with the efforts being made by engineers such as the Women's Technology Program in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Physics has almost the same gender balance challenges as computer science, yet I'm puzzled that the field makes less of an effort.

Have you engaged in outreach? Was there a pivotal moment in your own early years that brought you to astronomy? What lessons can you share?

AASWOMEN for July 29, 2011

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of July 29, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. Starting Up

2. Portman's 'Thor' Highlights Women in Astronomy

3. Recommended Article: "A Woman's Place"

4. NASA Research Opportunities for Educators (NITARP)

5. The Last Word on the Planetary Science Survey

6. Job Opportunities

7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter