AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of July 19, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, and Hannah Jang-Condell
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]
This week's issues:
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| Dorothy Vaughan, a "hidden figure" Credit: NASA |
1. Celebrating Apollo-era Women
2. AAS seeking plenary speakers for AAS 245
3. Heising-Simons Foundation’s Science Program Soliciting Proposals
4. Black Space Week 2024 Recordings Available
5. This Month in Astronomical History: July 2024
6. Sloan Research Fellowships
7. Mary-Lou Pardue, MIT professor whose anti-bias efforts lifted women in science, dies at 90
8. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.
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1. Celebrating Apollo-era Women
From: Nicolle Zellner via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will rename “Building 12,” on Friday, July 19, the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, in honor of "hidden figure" computer Dorothy Vaughan, who is acknowledged as NASA’s first African-American manager. Other women of Apollo will also be recognized with activities marking their achievements.
Read more at
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2. AAS seeking plenary speakers for AAS 245
From: American Astronomical Society
One of the central features of the AAS summer and winter meetings is their plenary talks spanning the full breadth of astrophysics. Some plenaries are given by prize winners from the AAS and other organizations, while other speakers are selected by the AAS Vice Presidents (VPs). Most plenary talks present science content, but talks on the state of the profession, demographics, and societal issues of relevance to the astronomical community are also regularly scheduled.
The VPs solicit nominations from the community for potential plenary speakers and/or topics. We seek dynamic speakers who can deliver engaging, visual-rich presentations to a general audience of astronomers, on topics that are of broad interest to the community. On the nomination form, please provide specific information on the candidate’s speaking ability. This is especially important for candidates from under-represented groups and institutions and early-career scientists — they may be less well-known, but we really want to provide speaking opportunities for them. The candidate speaker list will not necessarily be limited to those nominated by the community. Self-nominations are accepted.
Find the nomination form at
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3. Heising-Simons Foundation’s Science Program Soliciting Proposals
From: Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez [gbetancourt_at_hsfoundation.org]
The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Science program solicits proposals for support of meetings, workshops, conferences, summer schools, research collaboration gatherings, and other events related to astronomy, cosmology, fundamental physics, climate change science, as well as increasing the representation and retention of underrepresented groups within these areas. Applications are due August 30th at 11:59am (just before noon) PT.
For more information and to apply, please visit
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4. Black Space Week 2024 Recordings Available
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
The fifth annual Black Space Week, organized by the Black in Astro organization, was held in Washington, DC., June 16-22, 2024. The events of Black Space Week were attended by hundreds of people and included several panels featuring current and former astronauts, high-ranking U.S. Space Force officers, actors, entrepreneurs, government officials, students, and scientists. The full event was organized in partnership with NASA, the U.S. National Space Council, and the White House, and it was recognized by the U.S. Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Recordings of the panels and discussion can be viewed at
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5. This Month in Astronomical History: July 2024
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]
By Ananya Kaalva
On 1 July 1978, Beatrice Tinsley became a professor of astronomy at Yale University. Yale had hired her as an associate professor in 1975, after her rejection for a similar position by the University of Texas at Dallas. Following the award of her doctorate at UT Austin in 1967, Tinsley was a visiting scientist at the Hale Observatory, the Lick Observatory, Caltech, and the University of Maryland. Before dying of melanoma in 1981, she published over 100 papers on galaxies.
Read more at
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6. Sloan Research Fellowships
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
Sloan Research Fellowships support fundamental research conducted by early-career scientists.
The two-year $75,000 fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.
Learn more at
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7. Mary-Lou Pardue, MIT professor whose anti-bias efforts lifted women in science, dies at 90
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
By Bryan Marquard
Amid the clatter of lunchtime dishes, Mary-Lou Pardue sat across from Nancy Hopkins one day in 1994 in a café not far from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reading a letter Hopkins had drafted.
Both were MIT professors and scientists, and Hopkins, the younger of the two, had gathered data showing women on the faculty were routinely discriminated against in numerous ways. Hopkins wanted to send her findings to the school’s president, but sought a blessing of sorts from Dr. Pardue, the first woman in MIT’s School of Science to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.
“I chose Mary-Lou as the person whose judgment would mean the most to me. I had this huge respect for her as a scientist before I even met her,” Hopkins recalled in an interview.
Dr. Pardue read the letter “very slowly and put it down on the table and said, ‘I agree with this letter, every word. I want to sign it and think you should send it to the president,’ " Hopkins said. “And that changed my life, and ultimately it changed MIT. That was, to me, the defining moment for women at MIT.”
Read more at
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8. 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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9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
Join AAS Women List through the online portal:
To Subscribe, go to https://aas.simplelists.com/aaswlist/subscribe/ and enter your name and email address, and click Subscribe. You will be sent an email with a link to click to confirm subscription.
To unsubscribe from AAS Women by email:
Go to https://aas.simplelists.com/aaswlist/subscribe/ , in the "My account and unsubscriptions", type your email address. You will receive an email with a link to access your account, from there you can click the unsubscribe link for this mailing list.
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10. Access to Past Issues
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