Friday, April 1, 2016

AASWOMEN Newsletter for April 1, 2016

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 1, 2016
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Elysse Voyer, & Heather Flewelling


This week's issues:

1. On My Side: Creating Supportive Research Group Spaces    
2. Dear Senior Astrophysicists, Physicists, and Planetary Scientists  
3. Nominate a Worthy Scientist for an AAS Prize
4. SMD seeking volunteer reviewers for proposals to Astrophysics and Planetary Science
5. House Passes Bill to Inspire Girls and Women to Enter STEM Fields
6. Women and Minorities Are Penalized for Promoting Diversity
7. SETI Institute to Lead New STEM Project with Girl Scouts: “Reaching for the Stars: NASA Science for Girl Scouts”
8.  Rising Stargirls Teaching and Activity Handbook 
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


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1. On My Side: Creating Supportive Research Group Spaces    
From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

Reposted (with permission) from the blog of Dr. Angela Little.

Research group spaces play a key role in academia for getting feedback on work-in-progress. Getting feedback can sometimes be a scary or frustrating thing to do, depending on the culture and practices of a particular group.  In this audio piece, I talk to graduate students and the lead faculty member of a math education research group at UC Berkeley. We discuss aspects of how they try to create a constructive and supportive culture for feedback. I hope this piece is a helpful conversation-starter.

Read more and listen to the audio piece at


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2. Dear Senior Astrophysicists, Physicists, and Planetary Scientists 
From: Josh Tan [joshuapaultan_at_gmail.com] 

An open letter to senior scientists regarding the ongoing issue of harassment in our community has been signed by more than 300 people. 

Please read it at 


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3. Nominate a Worthy Scientist for an AAS Prize
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

“Some institutions are very good at nominating their outstanding faculty for AAS prizes and awards, but others are not. As a result the nomination pool does not accurately reflect the talents of the eligible astronomers.

The AAS has addressed this to some degree by allowing self-nominations for all prizes, but … some astronomers are not comfortable nominating themselves. So it's up to the rest of us to find those long-overlooked giants in the field, the rising stars at institutions that don't aggressively nominate, and the quiet but profound field-changers who don't make waves, and to get them the recognition they deserve.

But getting someone nominated is not as simple as firing off an email to the AAS Secretary. It's a lot of hard work.”

Read more at


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4. SMD seeking volunteer reviewers for proposals to Astrophysics and Planetary Science
From: Christina Richey [christina.r.richey_at_nasa.gov] 

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is recruiting reviewers for ROSES proposals to Astrophysics and Planetary Science. We especially encourage post-doctoral fellows and other early career scientists to volunteer. The following programs are currently listed: Astrophysics Data Analysis, Exoplanets Research, Emerging Worlds, Solar System Observations, Cassini Data Analysis, Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration.

If you are interested in being a reviewer, please go to 

http://science.nasa.gov/researchers/volunteer-review-panels 

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5. House Passes Bill to Inspire Girls and Women to Enter STEM Fields
From: John Mather <johncm12_at_gmail.com>

“The House easily cleared legislation sponsored by Rep. Barbara Comstock that would call on NASA to continue three initiatives supporting women’s involvement in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and aerospace, and develop a plan to leverage NASA’s workforce to inspire girls to enter these fields.”

Read more at


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6. Women and Minorities Are Penalized for Promoting Diversity
From: Elysse Voyer [elysse.voyer_at_gmail.com]

By Stefanie K. Johnson and David R. Hekman

Roughly 85% of corporate executives and board members are white men. This number hasn’t budged for decades, which suggests that white men are continuing to select and promote other white men.

It is well known that people tend to favor and promote those who are similar to them — and that this in-group bias is problematic because it reinforces stereotypes and inequality. However, while it is a common tendency, not everyone is allowed to advocate for their own group. Sometimes when women and minorities promote their own group, it garners criticism from others.

Read more at


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7. SETI Institute to Lead New STEM Project with Girl Scouts: “Reaching for the Stars: NASA Science for Girl Scouts”
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

“NASA’s Science Mission Directorate selected “Reaching for the Stars: NASA Science for Girl Scouts” as a new, 5-year space science education program that will bring together Girl Scouts with scientists, engineers and educators at NASA and beyond. 

“Reaching for the Stars” will partner the Girl Scout’s national movement for girls in grades K-12 in a variety of activities that span local troop programs, Girl Scout camps, and events like the upcoming 2017 solar eclipse that will engage girls in space science.”

Read more about this program at


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8. Rising Stargirls Teaching and Activity Handbook 
From: Aomawa Shields [ashields_at_astro.ucla.edu]

The Rising Stargirls Teaching and Activity Handbook has been released. A brief post about the handbook, with a link to download it, is available at


or you can downloaded the handbook directly from 


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9. 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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10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email: 

Send email to aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have subscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like. 

Be sure to follow the instructions in the confirmation email. (Just reply back to the email list) 

To unsubscribe by email: 

Send email to aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have UNsubscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like. 

To join or leave AASWomen via web, or change your membership settings: 


You will have to create a Google Account if you do not already have one, using https://accounts.google.com/newaccount?hl=en  

Google Groups Subscribe Help: 


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11. Access to Past Issues


Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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