Apply for the Carnegie Astrophysics Summer Student Internship Program

By Gwen Rudie

CASSI interns on the catwalk 

of the 200 inch Hale Telescope 

at the Palomar Observatory.

The Carnegie Astrophysics Summer Student Internship Program (CASSI) is a 10 week, paid internship and educational program based at Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, CA. CASSI welcomes a diverse cohort of 10-15 undergraduates annually, most of whom are students at colleges and universities in Southern California. CASSI Interns collaborate with Carnegie astronomers on original research projects from studying exoplanets to distant galaxies. Some CASSI interns also work with Carnegie scientists and engineers on the next generation of cameras and spectrographs for our telescopes.

AASWomen Newsletter for January 8, 2021

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of January 08, 2021
eds: Heather Flewelling, Nicolle Zellner, Maria Patterson, Jeremy Bailey, and Alessandra Aloisi

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

From Item 6

This week's issues:

1. Cross-post: Affecting Change in the Local and Global Astronomical Communities

2. Join the Women in Astronomy Blog Team!

3. CSWA @ the 237th AAS Meeting

4. SHIELD Webinar: Coming From Far Away Lands: How different backgrounds Shape their Careers

5. Retracting a Bad Take on Female Mentorship

6. They Decided To Debate Women’s Leadership Skills. Then It Got Worse.

7. Women in science: studying exploding binary stars, while exploding the gender binary

8. Ways to look after yourself and others in 2021

9. Call for Nominations to the Executive Committee of the Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG)

10. Job Opportunities

11. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

13. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

CSWA @ the 237th AAS Meeting

by Nicolle Zellner and Jeremy Bailin

AAS meeting participants are invited to join members of the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) at their Splinter Session on January 12 (6:50 pm to 8:20 pm ET) to learn about CSWA activities. Based on input to the committee's 2019 community survey, the CSWA is beginning to develop and undertake projects to support the committee's Strategic Plan for the 2020s, which will guide the committee's efforts for the next decade. In this session, participants will learn about the committee's Strategic Plan, its focus areas, objectives, and potential projects. They will also learn about opportunities to become involved in the process of implementing the projects and assessing the outcomes.

Meet & Greet: A Strategic Plan for the Next 10 Years

Date: January 12, 2021

Time: 6:50 PM to 8:20 PM EST

Session ID # 169

We’d love to receive your questions ahead of time, so please fill out this survey. We’ll also take questions during the session itself.

Other meeting sessions that may be of interest to you include:

Be the Captain of your PhD, Jan. 7th, 12:00 pm–4:00pm ET
Grad School Fair, Jan. 10th, 11:00 am–3:00 pm ET (visit the CSWA's virtual booth!)
CSMA Panel: A Discussion on Anti-Blackness in Astronomy, Jan. 11th, 12:00–1:30 pm ET
Networking from Afar and Mastering the Informational Interview, Jan. 11th, 12:00–1:30 pm ET
Combat Impostor Syndrome, Jan. 11th, 4:10–5:40 pm ET
Enhancing Participation of Minority Serving Institutions, Jan. 11th, 6:50–8:20 pm ET
SGMA Meet & Greet for LGBTQIA Members and Students, Jan. 11th, 6:50–8:20 pm ET
NASA’s Opportunities for Scientists to Engage with Learners of all Ages, Jan. 12th, 4:10–5:40 pm ET
STARtorialist: Introduction to the Universe of Astro-Fashion, Jan. 13th, 12:00–12:30 pm ET
Evaluating a Job Offer, Jan. 14th, 2:40–3:10 pm ET


More career, networking, poster, exhibitor, and science sessions can be found on the AAS "at a glance" block schedule by clicking through the date tabs at the top.

We look forward to seeing you next week!

Join the Women in Astronomy Blog Team!

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) is seeking volunteers from the community to join the Women in Astronomy blog team as writers and editors, to produce and share content that is relevant to women-identifying astronomers. Previous writing experience is not necessary. Team members will be responsible for producing an original blog post or cross-posting relevant articles once a month. They will work with the Blogger-in-Chief to brainstorm ideas, coordinate posts, and follow-up with projects that are in the works.

A time commitment of at least one year is desired. If you are interested, please fill out the form below. Members of the CSWA and the Women in Astronomy blogging team will contact you with the next steps.

https://forms.gle/t7oqEKnvsiijAime7

If you are interested in writing a one-time blog post, please send a short pitch (<300) words to wia-blog_at_lists.aas.org.

Cross-post: Affecting Change in the Local and Global Astronomical Communities

By the Women in Astronomy Forum at STScI

Several members of the WIAF at a
virtual meeting in November 2020.

The Women in Astronomy Forum is a self-organized group of women scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute who have research time as a contractual agreement. We welcome cis-women, trans-women and non-binary people who feel comfortable in a space centered on the experiences of women. Our goals are to provide support and mentoring to others in the group, and to advocate for more inclusive and equitable practices both within the institute and more broadly in the astronomical community. In this article, we introduce ourselves and some of our recent initiatives, including: concrete recommendations to improve diversity in conferences, and specific guidelines for improving diversity on committees and activities coordinated by STScI, analysis of long-term trends in the astronomical work force, and unconscious bias in astronomy. We hope that other institutions can use these guidelines and recommendations to improve their own practices. We also hope that our experience can help others to form similar groups, and we offer some advice and resources through our website.

Read more at

https://www.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/2020-volume-37-issue-02/the-women-in-astronomy-forum-at-stsci-affecting-change-in-astronomical-communities

Find useful resources at

https://www.stsci.edu/~women.astro/index.html

AASWomen Newsletter for December 18, 2020

AAS Committee on the Status of Women

Issue of December 18, 2020

eds: Heather Flewelling, Nicolle Zellner, Maria Patterson, Jeremy Bailey, and Alessandra Aloisi

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

This week's issues:

1. Career Profile: Astronomer to STEM Inclusion and Outreach Specialist 

2. Diversity Officer at STScI  

3. Astrotech Summer School 2021

4. Calendar of Women Scientists Who Made Nuclear Astrophysics 

5. ‘I’ve had to fight to be taken seriously’: Women With Ph.Ds Respond To Dr. Jill Biden Column

6. Better Letters: Equitable Practices for Writing, Reading, and Soliciting Letters of Recommendation 

7. Nature's 10 people who helped shape science in 2020 

8. Meet 5 Black researchers fighting for diversity and equity in science

9. The life-changing and long-lasting influence of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

10. Job Opportunities

11. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

13. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Career Profile: Astronomer to STEM Inclusion and Outreach Specialist

 The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy is compiling interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

Below is our interview with Regina Barber DeGraaff. Regina is a Mexican-Taiwanese-American, pop-culture-obsessed, astrophysicist, who teaches physics, astronomy, and science communication at WWU. Regina completed her PhD in physics at Washington State University in 2011, studying distant extragalactic globular clusters using the Hubble Space Telescope. Over five years ago Regina co-created and began to host the radio show (KMRE) & WWU podcast Spark Science. This talk show strives to humanize the scientist and make Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) accessible. She also created the position of the STEM Inclusion and Outreach Specialist at WWU devoted to the retention and support of underrepresented students and faculty in STEM. Through all her efforts, Regina’s goal is to break apart the scientist stereotype so that anyone can see themselves in science.

To access our previous Career Profiles, please go to http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/search/label/career%20profiles