Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc. / LSST CorporationIssue of June 14, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, JoEllen McBride, and Ale Aloisi
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This week's issues:
2. Chairwoman Johnson and Rep. González-Colón Introduce the Vera Rubin Survey Telescope Designation Act
3. Vera Rubin: The Astronomer Who Brought Dark Matter to Light
4. NASA Honors 'Hidden Figures' in Street Renaming Ceremony Outside NASA Headquarters
5. All-woman team commands rock-zapping laser on Mars
6. Chairwoman Johnson’s Opening Statement for Hearing on Combating Sexual Harassment in Science
7. Time to End the Manel Tradition
8. When English is not your mother tongue
9. Eight Ways to Support Women in Science
10. 5 Ways Society Sabotages Girls' Interest In Science And Math
12. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
14. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Interview with Dr. Ramirez-Ruiz, Vera Rubin Presidential Chair for Diversity in Astronomy at UC Santa Cruz
From: JoEllen McBride via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Dr. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, was inducted as the inaugural Vera Rubin Presidential Chair for Diversity in Astronomy last month. Vera Rubin was on the steering committee of the Working Group on the Status of Women in Astronomy whose report led to the creation of the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy. She was also a champion of inclusive science—mentoring students from various backgrounds. I spoke to Dr. Ramirez-Ruiz about what this chair means and about his intentional work to increase the diversity of voices contributing to the field of astronomy.
Read more at
https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2019/06/interview-with-dr-enrico-ramirez-ruiz.html
Back to top.2. Chairwoman Johnson and Rep. González-Colón Introduce the Vera Rubin Survey Telescope Designation Act
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
Reps put forward a bill to designate the LSST as the Vera Rubin Survey Telescope.
Read more at
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=54172
Read more coverage at
https://www.space.com/giant-lsst-telescope-name-vera-rubin.html
Back to top.3. Vera Rubin: The Astronomer Who Brought Dark Matter to Light
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Tom Childers
"Astronomer Vera Rubin changed the way we think of the universe by showing that galaxies are mostly dark matter."
Read more at
https://www.space.com/vera-rubin.html
Back to top.4. NASA Honors 'Hidden Figures' in Street Renaming Ceremony Outside NASA Headquarters
From: Pat KNezek [patricia.m.knezek_at_nasa.gov] and JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
NASA Headquarters officially renamed the street outside its Southwest D.C. headquarters on Wednesday ‘Hidden Figures Way’ to honor Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary W. Jackson.
Read more at
Learn more about NASA’s efforts here
https://www.nasa.gov/modernfigures
Back to top.5. All-woman team commands rock-zapping laser on Mars
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
The LANL team responsible for sending commands to the ChemCam instrument on the Curiosity rover-which shoots Martian rocks with a laser-is made up entirely of women.
Read more at
https://www.lanl.gov/discover/news-release-archive/2019/June/0610-all-woman-chemcam-team.php
Back to top.6. Chairwoman Johnson’s Opening Statement for Hearing on Combating Sexual Harassment in Science
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing yesterday on H.R. 36 the Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act. Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s (D-TX) made the opening statement.
Read her statement here
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=54177
Learn more about H.R. 36 here
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/36
Back to top.7. Time to End the Manel Tradition
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the NIH, has stated he will no longer take part in conferences or scientific meetings if "attention to inclusiveness is not evident in the agenda."
Read his statement at
https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/time-end-manel-tradition
Back to top.8. When English is not your mother tongue
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
By Chris Woolston & Joana Osório
"Science as a career attracts people from across the world. But whether researchers come from Beijing, Berlin or Buenos Aires, they have to express most of their ideas and findings in English. Having a dominant language can streamline the process of science, but it also creates extra barriers and the potential for conflict. In January, for example, a biostatistics professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, chastised students from China for speaking in their native language on campus.
Nature asked seven researchers with personal or professional experience of language barriers to share their insights."
Read more at
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01797-0
Back to top.9. Eight Ways to Support Women in Science
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
These eight steps are described for the geosciences, but can be broadly applied to our field also.
Read more at
https://eos.org/opinions/eight-ways-to-support-women-in-science
Back to top.10. 5 Ways Society Sabotages Girls' Interest In Science And Math
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
Marshall Shepard, a climate scientist, explains the ways girls are discouraged and pushed away from STEM using personal anecdotes and interviews.
Read more at
Back to top.11. Job Opportunities
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their
organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:
https://cswa.aas.org/diversity.html#howtoincrease
-Postdoc/Research Scientist for the NASA Ames Exoplanet Speckle Imaging Group https://jobregister.aas.org/ad/c74ca46a
Back to top.12. 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.
Back to top.13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
Join AAS Women List by email:
Send an email to aaswomen_at_aas.org. A list moderator will add your email to the list. They will reply to your message to confirm that they have added you.
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Back to top.14. Access to Past Issues
https://cswa.aas.org/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.