Friday, April 3, 2020

AASWomen Newsletter for April 03, 2020

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 03, 2020
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

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


Heather Couper, from item 2.
Credit: Hencoup Enterprises/PA
This week's issues:

1. Updated Activities and a Message From the Blogging Team

2. Heather Couper obituary: Astronomer who redefined science on TV

3. AAAS Fellow Ann Finkbeiner Set a New Standard for Writing About Women Scientists

4. Pioneers in Science: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

5. How Nancy Grace Roman shaped Hubble

6. Women rival men in scientific research publications and citations

7. Workshop on women of color in tech

8. Leadership to change a culture of sexual harassment

9. Fewer US researchers are disclosing disabilities on NIH grant applications

10. Graduate Studies and Campus Closures

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


1. Updated Activities and a Message From the Blogging Team
From: JoEllen McBride via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

We have added more items to our previous blog post: A Message on COVID-19!

Read more at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2020/03/activities-and-ways-you-can-help-while.html

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2. Heather Couper obituary: Astronomer who redefined science on TV
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By The Irish Times

"The astronomer and broadcaster Heather Couper, who has died aged 70 after a short illness, helped, with her passion for the subject, to redefine the way her science was presented on television.

She made her name with two series in particular, The Planets (1985) and The Stars (1988), both on Channel 4. In these programmes, rather than presenting from a TV studio, Couper took viewers inside the observatories that shaped the subject she loved. Her scripts were often laced with tales of stargazers from the past, and this historical context, presented from a personal point of view, showed the process of the science, and humanised it."

Read more at

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/heather-couper-obituary-astronomer-who-redefined-science-on-tv-1.4219069

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3. AAAS Fellow Ann Finkbeiner Set a New Standard for Writing About Women Scientists
From: John Mather [johncm12_at_gmail.com]

"In 2013, science writer and AAAS Fellow Ann Finkbeiner wrote a blog post that has changed the way journalists all over the world approach writing about roughly half the people who work in science. In that post, she declared that she would never again write anything about a woman scientist that she wouldn't write about a man.

That, in brief, is the 'Finkbeiner Test,' which fellow science writer Christie Aschwanden refined into seven bullet points on the Double X Science website and launched into the public consciousness."

Read more at

https://www.aaas.org/membership/member-spotlight/aaas-fellow-ann-finkbeiner-set-new-standard-writing-about-women

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4. Pioneers in Science: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By Aleksandra Holownia

"The roaring 20s were not only regarded as a decade of economic prosperity, but also of significant scientific discoveries and achievements. The contributions made by astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, although not publicly recognized at the time, represent no exception. Payne's Ph.D. thesis on stellar atmospheres, which led to the observation that hydrogen and helium are the main elements of the stars, was regarded by prominent astronomers as 'the most brilliant thesis written in astronomy'."

Read more at

https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/pioneers-in-science-cecilia-payne-gaposchkin

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5. How Nancy Grace Roman shaped Hubble
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

As the Hubble Space Telescope continues to deliver compelling science 30 years after its deployment, it's important to acknowledge a key contributor to the mission's success. As NASA’s first chief of astronomy programs, Nancy Grace Roman (1925–2018) shepherded some 20 spaceborne astronomical missions in the 1960s and 1970s. Her longest-lasting effort was to help establish a large diffraction-limited orbiting space telescope, an instrument that took several names before it became Hubble. Today [April 1] Roman is warmly remembered by her colleagues and followers as one of the central players who turned that decades-old dream into reality.

Read more at

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.4.20200401c/full

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6. Women rival men in scientific research publications and citations
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

By Jon Brock

Despite increasing representation of women in science, gender gaps for publications and citations have continued to widen since the middle of last century.

A new study has found an explanation: women are more prone than men to dropping out of science, thereby curtailing their publishing careers. That gap is also growing.

Read more at

https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/women-rival-men-in-scientific-publications-citations

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7. Workshop on women of color in tech
From: Nancy Morrison [nancyastro126_at_gmail.com]

From the National Academies Committee on Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women of Color in Tech --

"You're invited to attend a workshop hosted by the National Academies Committee on Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women of Color in Tech on April 7 and 8. Registration is free and open.

"This is the second of four workshops to learn more about evidence-based, effective programs, models, and practices that academic institutions, employers, and individuals can implement to increase the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women of color in tech."

Program details and registration:

Day One: Tuesday, April 7 12 - 3 p.m. EDT

Day Two: Wednesday, April 8 11 a.m - 2 p.m. EDT

Register for Day 1: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://AWIS.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT05MjM2MTY0JnA9MSZ1PTExMzQ5NzY0NzgmbGk9NzUzNDQ1NTE/index.html__;!!LoBwcKfm!3rU-9iQyVeERJ523N02EvKKfy6pHHMGFn4qo-0JjpLeHpkM4ni-HBAq75_q8HSeh8dVChaw$

Register for Day 2: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://AWIS.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT05MjM2MTY0JnA9MSZ1PTExMzQ5NzY0NzgmbGk9NzUzNDQ1NTI/index.html__;!!LoBwcKfm!3rU-9iQyVeERJ523N02EvKKfy6pHHMGFn4qo-0JjpLeHpkM4ni-HBAq75_q8HSehsdLXVvs$

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8. Leadership to change a culture of sexual harassment
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

France Cordova, the outgoing director of the NSF, wrote this article in Science. You need a AAAS login to read the whole thing.

Read the summary at

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6485/1430

Read a Physics Today interview with Dr. Cordova at

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.4.20200327a/full

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9. Fewer US researchers are disclosing disabilities on NIH grant applications
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By Chris Woolston

"The proportion of researchers who report disabilities in grant applications for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) fell by more than one-third from 2008 to 2018, finds a study. It also determined that applicants who do disclose a disability are slightly less likely to win a grant than are those who say they are not disabled."

Read more at

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00887-8

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10. Graduate Studies and Campus Closures
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

I thought this article nicely summarizes some of the concerns of graduate students during this uncertain time. I'm also sure that these concerns apply to others as well.

Read more at

https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/03/24/challenges-facing-grad-students-due-coronavirus-opinion

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11. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_lists.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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12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

Send an email to aaswomen_at_lists.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.

Join AAS Women List through the online portal:

Go to https://lists.aas.org/postorius/lists/aaswlist.lists.aas.org and enter the email address you wish to subscribe in the 'Your email address' field. You will receive an email from 'aaswlist-confirm' that you must reply to. There may be a delay between entering your email and receiving the confirmation message. Check your Spam or Junk mail folders for the message if you have not received it after 2 hours.

To unsubscribe from AAS Women by email:

Send an email to aaswlist-leave_at_lists.aas.org from the email address you wish to remove from the list. You will receive an email from 'aaswlist-confirm' that you must reply to which will complete the unsubscribe.

Leave AAS Women or change your membership settings through the online portal:

Go to https://lists.aas.org/accounts/signup to create an account with the online portal. After confirming your account you can see the lists you are subscribed to and update your settings.

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13. Access to Past Issues

https://aas.org/comms/cswa/AASWOMEN

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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