Issue of January 07, 2022
eds: Heather Flewelling, Nicolle Zellner, Maria Patterson, Alessandra Aloisi, and Jeremy Bailin
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. Be well! --eds.]
This week's issues:
1. Crosspost: Remembering Astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt
2. Shoutout to Amena Karimyan, Afghani astronomer and one of BBC's 100 Women of 2021
3. Crosspost: Meet the first woman appointed as astronomer royal for Scotland
4. Crosspost: Eight Women Astronomers You Should Know
5. Cheryl Praeger's inaugural Ruby Payne-Scott Lecture
6. “You Have To See It To Be It”: Missing Female Role Models and What We Can Do About It
7. Interview with Don't Look Up science advisor Amy Mainzer
8. Podcast: A New Picture of a Scientist — New Book Chronicles a New Chapter for Women Scientists
10. Association for Women in Science scholarships for 2022
11. New data on how race and gender shape science
12. Mothers in Astronomy Project
14. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
15. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.
1. Crosspost: Remembering Astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt
From: Bryne Hadnott via http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
By Emily A. Margolis and Samantha Thompson for the National Air and Space Museum
On the evening of December 12, 1921, as 53-year old astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt succumbed to cancer, heavy rains fell from the skies over Cambridge, Massachusetts. After nearly 30 years at the Harvard College Observatory, Leavitt and her stars, hidden by rain clouds, parted ways. Leavitt lived a short but deeply impactful life, during which her achievements failed to receive sufficient recognition. On the centennial of her death, we reflect on her life and legacy.
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2021/12/crosspost-remembering-astronomer.html
Back to top.2. Shoutout to Amena Karimyan, Afghani astronomer and one of BBC's 100 Women of 2021
From: Bryne Hadnott via http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
This past year has been...a lot of different things: exhausting, emotionally draining, terrifying, overwhelming and packed with more events than a person should have to experience in 365 days. Still, there were moments when the actions of one individual shined so bright that they cut through the gray, dense fog that was 2021.
Amena Karimyan—civil engineer, astronomer, and founder of Kayhana Astronomical Group—is one such individual. Last summer, her all-girls astronomy education nonprofit won an award from the International Astronomy and Astrophysics competition and received twelve Bresser Messier AR90/900 telescopes from the International Astronomical Union's Telescopes for All project.
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2021/12/shoutout-to-amena-karimyan-afghani.html
Back to top.3. Crosspost: Meet the first woman appointed as astronomer royal for Scotland
From: Bryne Hadnott via http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
By Jenny Darmody for Silicon Republic
Earlier this year, astrophysicist Catherine Heymans became the first woman to be appointed astronomer royal for Scotland since the position was created almost 200 years ago. She is the 11th person to hold the role after it became vacant in 2019 following the death of John Campbell Brown, who held the position since 1995.
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2022/01/crosspost-meet-first-woman-appointed-as.html
Back to top.4. Crosspost: Eight Women Astronomers You Should Know
From: Bryne Hadnott via http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
By Sidney Perkowitz for JSTOR Daily
Andrea Ghez, a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA, shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics for finding a supermassive black hole stuffed with 4 million suns at the center of our galaxy. Among the four female Nobel Laureates in physics to date, Ghez is the only astronomer. Her award is a pinnacle for women in astronomy and astrophysics. Yet women astronomers remain a minority and often encounter a lack of recognition, unwelcoming career paths, and harassment. But today women participate and publish in astronomy and astrophysics at higher rates than in physics overall, producing world-class research.
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2022/01/crosspost-eight-women-astronomers-you.html
Back to top.5. Cheryl Praeger's inaugural Ruby Payne-Scott Lecture
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
The inaugural Ruby Payne-Scott Medal and Lecture for women in science is a career medal that recognises researchers of the highest standing in the physical and/or biological sciences. The award honours Ruby Payne-Scott's pioneering contribution to radiophysics and radio astronomy. Watch 2021 awardee Cheryl Praeger's delivery of the inaugural Ruby Payne-Scott lecture.
Watch the lecture at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Mavbk043o
Back to top.6. “You Have To See It To Be It”: Missing Female Role Models and What We Can Do About It
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Amy Diehl
"The absence of women from historical records and popular narrative can make us think there are few notable women. This is not the case. Throughout history, women have been accomplishing, discovering and innovating— yet their achievements have been largely left out of the historical narrative, to our detriment. When women’s accomplishments are not documented, published or promoted, it leads to a lack of role models for girls and women to emulate.
As American tennis player Billie Jean King said, “You have to see it to be it.” Female role models act as critical inspiration for girls and women by showing what is possible. In a recent study, researchers recruited top women leaders from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) companies to speak to girls ages 12 to 16. These role models had a positive effect on the girls’ enjoyment and expectations of success in math as well as aspirations for STEM careers, while also dispelling gender stereotypes such as “boys do better in math than girls.” In another study, female college students with an interest in pre-med who were given information about successful female physicians reported higher interest in a medical career than those who were not exposed to the role models."
Read more at
https://msmagazine.com/2021/12/27/womens-history-stem-role-models
Back to top.7. Interview with Don't Look Up science advisor Amy Mainzer
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Nancy Atkinson
"The new movie “Don’t Look Up” — now available on Netflix — is not your usual sci-fi disaster film. Instead, it is a biting parody on the general public’s dismissal and indifference to science. While the movie is about a comet on a collision course with Earth, filmmakers originally meant “Don’t Look Up” to be a commentary on climate change denial. But it also is reflective of the current COVID denial and mask/vaccine resistance, as well as our existing political polarization. It also lays bare our preoccupation with social media. While the movie is sometimes funny, it can also be depressing and frustrating.
Filmmaker Adam McKay wanted this film to portray the science — and the challenges faced by scientists — as realistically as possible. He brought in well-known astronomer Dr. Amy Mainzer to serve as the film’s science consultant.
Mainzer is a professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona and one of the world’s leading scientists in asteroid detection and planetary defense. As principal investigator of NASA’s NEOWISE mission (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) Mainzer has overseen the largest space-based asteroid-hunting project in history. A comet named after the mission, Comet NEOWISE, was discovered by astronomers who work with the spacecraft in March of 2020."
Read more at
https://www.universetoday.com/153799/the-real-science-behind-the-movie-dont-look-up
Back to top.8. Podcast: A New Picture of a Scientist — New Book Chronicles a New Chapter for Women Scientists
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Society of Women Engineers
"In this episode, Roberta Rincon, associate director of research for the Society of Women Engineers speaks with Lisa M.P. Munoz, science communicator and author of the upcoming book A New Picture of a Scientist: Creating a New Culture for Science That Overcomes Obstacles in Equity inspired by the film Picture a Scientist. The film exposes deep inequity in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights and chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. In the new book, to be published by Columbia University Press in 2022, Lisa builds off the film and moves beyond it, examining research-based solutions to make the culture of science more diverse, inclusive, and equitable for everyone. Roberta spoke with Lisa about her engineering and science background, her work on building a community around the film, and her upcoming book, including solutions to make workplaces more equitable."
Listen to the podcast at
Back to top.9. Eunice Foote -- the woman who discovered climate change 5 years before the man who gets credit for it
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Nichola Daunton
"Chances are you’ve never heard of Eunice Foote, but she was the first person to document climate change. Five years before the man credited for discovering it. Foote’s experiment, which was documented in a brief scientific paper in 1856 noted that “the highest effect of the sun’s rays, I have found to be in carbonic acid gas [carbon dioxide].” This discovery laid the groundwork for the modern understanding of the ‘greenhouse gas effect’ but the recognition was given to an Irish scientist named John Tyndall in 1861."
Read more at
Back to top.10. Association for Women in Science scholarships for 2022
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
The Association for Women in Science has four scholarships open for women in science at various career stages: pre-doctoral students, women who have been out of the workforce for 2+ years, and undergraduates. Applications for 2022 scholarships are due February 28.
Read more at
Back to top.11. New data on how race and gender shape science
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Colleen Flaherty
"A new study of millions of academic papers and the scholars who wrote them finds a connection between lead authors’ racial and gender identities and their research topics—and that underrepresented groups are overrepresented in topics with relatively low citation counts.
The study’s authors say these trends limit both individual and scientific advancement. They urge more access to science for nonwhite scholars and women, plus more funding for the research they pursue."
Read more at
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/01/04/new-data-how-race-and-gender-shape-science
Read the journal article at
https://www.pnas.org/content/119/2/e2113067119
Back to top.12. Mothers in Astronomy Project
From: Martha Irene Saladino [mairensaro_at_gmail.com]
My name is Martha Irene Saladino. I'm an astrophysicist and science communicator. Together with Maria Claudia Ramirez Tannus and Paola Pinilla, we're working on a project to give recognition to mothers working in astronomy in different stages of their careers. For this purpose, we're collecting short stories and pictures that we're putting together in a digital document that will be published and shared in May 2022. With these stories, we aim to create collective empowerment of mothers in astronomy by inspiring and supporting each other.
If you'd like to take part in this project, please take some minutes to fill out the form before January 31, 2022.
In the last part of the form, we ask for a picture that will accompany your text. Ideally, we'd like to have a picture of you with your children, but if you prefer you can also upload a painting made by your children or your favourite astronomical picture. We attach an example of how your answers and picture will be used for the document (this is only a draft, we're working on a better design). The attached template uses the case of Prof Vera Rubin, who's inspired many female scientists around the world.
Participate at
See the example template at
Back to top.13. Job Opportunities
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:
https://aas.org/comms/cswa/resources/Diversity#howtoincrease
- Director Astrophysics Division, NASA, Washington, DC https://www.usajobs.gov/job/628265700
Back to top.14. 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.
Back to top.15. 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.
Back to top.16. Access to Past Issues
https://aas.org/comms/cswa/AASWOMEN
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
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