AASWomen Newsletter for December 19, 2025

By Robert Markowitz - Great Images in NASA (archive)

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of December 19, 2025
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Sethanne Howard, Ferah Munshi, Stella Kafka, and Ben Keller

[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. Rest easy, and happy holidays! --eds.]

This week's issues:

1. Eileen Collins and Spacewoman, a documentary about breaking glass ceilings
2. AAS Members Among Inaugural Recipients of IAU STEM Ambassador Recognition Award Medal
3. Beth Brown Memorial Award Winners for 2025
4. Policy Update (17 December 2025)
5. Port of Call is Retiring!
6. Scientific discovery was slower when women were ignored, research shows
7. On-site childcare available for 247th AAS meeting
8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

Eileen Collins and Spacewoman, a documentary about breaking glass ceilings

Eileen Collins knew she wanted to be an astronaut at nine years old. It didn't matter that no astronauts were women at the time. She determined she would be a "lady astronaut." Collins went on to become an accomplished military pilot and the first woman to pilot the space shuttle in 1995, and the first woman space shuttle commander in 1999. Collins storied career included commanding Discovery on NASA's "Return to Flight" mission in 2005, where she performed a historic rendezvous pitch maneuver. 

By Robert Markowitz - Great Images in NASA (archive)
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6449908

Collin's book, Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission, which chronicled her journey to NASA and space, was released in 2021. In 2024, director Hannah Berryman, alongside Eileen Collins and co-writer Jonathon H.Ward, created the documentary Spacewoman. The documentary has enjoyed a limited release in the UK and was screened at the DOC NYC film festival. It is expected to be released for general viewing in 2026. 

In a BBC interview in October, Collins spoke about her years breaking glass ceilings to become a space shuttle pilot and commander. She notes the pressure and importance she felt being the first woman, knowing she was creating a path for others to follow.

"As the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle, I worked very hard at that because I didn't want people to say, 'Oh look, the woman has made a mistake'. Because it wasn't just about me, it was about the women to follow me," she says. "And I wanted there to be a reputation for women pilots that was: 'Hey, they're really good'."

Read the rest of Collins'  thoughts from the BBC interview at the BBC website. View the trailer for Spacewoman on YouTube. And if you can't wait until the release in 2026, you can always read the book first! Find out more at eileencollins.com. 

AASWomen Newsletter for December 12, 2025

Henrietta Swan Leavitt became one of the best known Harvard computers, famous for her determination of the period-luminosity law. Credit: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of December 19, 2025
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Sethanne Howard, Ferah Munshi, Stella Kafka, and Ben Keller

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

This week's issues:

1. An Invitation to the CSWA Networking and Community Event at AAS 247
2. IAU PhD Prize
3. 2026 International Day of Women and Girls in Science
4. Dec. 12, 1921: The death of Henrietta Swan Leavitt
5. New Book for Young Readers Brings the Stories of 10 Remarkable Women to Life
6. UNESCO launches a new global project to close the gender gap in science
7. Applications open for the IAU PhD Prize
8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

An Invitation to the CSWA Networking and Community Event at AAS 247

It's almost that wonderful time of year. AAS 247 is less than a month away, and the Committee on the Status of Women Astronomers is excited to invite AAS 247 attendees to a special community and network event. Space is limited! Please sign up soon to reserve your place.

Photo: AAS

Networking Event: 1400 Degrees and AAS CSWA at AAS 247

1400 Degrees is partnering with the American Astronomical Society’s Committee for the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) for an evening networking and community-building event at the AAS247 meeting in Phoenix, Arizona on January 5th, 2026. 

Connect over dinner and beverages with scientists from different institutions, career stages, and scientific sub-disciplines within physics and astronomy, in a casual and comfortable environment.

 

Feel free to share this invitation with your (21+) colleagues attending the AAS conference who are interested in supporting women and gender minorities in physics and astronomy.

 

Space is limited, so make sure to indicate your interest in attending quickly (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FNRU5ZQLhMh7tc8daXZ6oeXVjNNYCZTL46ipQJoB9ds/viewform?ts=6924ae7f&edit_requested=true). 

 

The 247th AAS meeting (joint with the Historical Astronomy Division) will be held 4-8 January, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona at the Phoenix Convention Center. 

The meeting will be jam-packed with great scientific content and provide ample opportunity for networking with friends and colleagues. Check out the block schedule for AAS 247 and the workshops and splinter sessions at AAS.org.

Registration for AAS 247 is still open through January 2, 2026. Don't forget to register for the CSWA networking event as well. We would love to see you there!

Attendees during the AAS Sunday evening reception at the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) 243.
Photo: AAS

AASWomen Newsletter for December 5, 2025

Stella Ocker, item 5.
Credit: Carnegie Science

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of December 5, 2025
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Sethanne Howard, Ferah Munshi, Stella Kafka, and Ben Keller

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

This week's issues:

1. The 2025 Holiday Gift Guide
2. Career Profile: Allyson Bieryla and the Astronomy Lab at Harvard University
3. "I encourage women to claim their space in astrophysics and beyond": Debarati Chatterjee’s mission is to make science in India more welcoming towards women.
4. AAS Laboratory Astrophysics Dissertation Prize
5. Interview: Stella Ocker Explores the Space Between the Stars
6. Australian government puts $9.77 million in funding to strengthen women in STEM careers
7. Silencing the other: Women in research and higher education
8. Astrophysics Data Analysis Program solicitation
9. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
11. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

Career Profile: Allyson Bieryla and the Astronomy Lab at Harvard University

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy has compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers, planetary scientists, etc. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

This article features Allyson Bieryla, manager of Harvard University’s Astronomy Lab and Telescope and astronomer at the Smithsonian Institute.

Allyson Bieryla, Astronomy Lab at Harvard and Astronomer at Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Photo courtesy of Allyson Bieryla.

Allyson Bieryla only left her home state of Pennsylvania a handful of times while growing up outside of Scranton. She enjoyed school, particularly her math and science classes, and had great teachers, but she never had an astronomy class or the chance to peer through a telescope. When she visited her high school guidance counselor to discuss college options, she thought she would likely follow in the footsteps of many of her classmates and choose an in-state school.

Her guidance counselor had other ideas. “She convinced me to go out-of-state,” Bieryla said. “She had a University of Colorado Boulder poster. It looked pretty.” Bieryla chose to apply, and in March, she drove halfway across the country to tour the university. She arrived in the middle of a blizzard and couldn’t see the mountains. When she checked into the hotel and asked where they were, the clerk laughed and said, “Just wait.”

The next morning, Bieryla was rewarded with a beautiful view of snowcapped peaks. She fell in love with Boulder, the city and the university, for its eye-opening experiences. “Different people, different mentality,” she quipped. When faced with choosing a major, Bieryla knew it would involve math and science, her favorite subjects from high school, but beyond that, she had little direction. She started going down the list of career options in science and found astronomy right at the top. Could that be the right choice? “I just wanted a sign on what to do. I saw a shooting star—two, actually—probably a meteor shower.” Bieryla took those two stars as confirmation and chose astronomy, along with physics and fine arts. She also minored in geology. 

While she loved her classes, she didn’t have a mentor to guide her. She didn’t get into grad school right away after college. Instead, Bieryla worked at Southwest Research Institute. When funding ran out, she worked for a geophysics company and then applied for a position at the astronomy lab at Harvard. Bieryla was hired and found her perfect fit. 

The position has grown over the last eighteen years. Bieryla has done some of her own research on the side through the Smithsonian Institute, and she got her Master’s degree in software engineering. She is submitting her doctoral dissertation in astrophysics to the University of Southern Queensland this year. “While I’ve been in the field for twenty years, there are things I can’t do without the PhD.”

One of Bieryla’s roles at the astrophysics lab is Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies. Within that role, she guides and mentors students in a way she never experienced. Outside of assisting students, she has a full plate of duties.

A typical day includes training grad students on how to run the labs offered at the astrophysics lab, overseeing telescope times allotted to students and teachers, and advising students in the General Astronomy Club. The club has weekly dinners, and students have the opportunity to attend the AAS conference each year. Bieryla also takes senior students on a trip every August. The students have visited Hawaii, Iceland, and Denmark, among others, and gotten to use professional telescopes. 

Bieryla also continues her own research on exoplanets. She also got involved with creating a tool to make viewing solar eclipses more accessible. In 2017, she helped design a tool that converts light to sound for the blind and low-vision impaired. In 2024, she ran workshops to teach people how to use the tools, and over 1,000 were 3D printed. “Our next version will convert color to sound,” Bieryla said.

Accessibility is a subject that Bieryla has given a lot of thought. “Like a lot of labs, [ours] was not accessible. We’re on the top floor.” Bieryla pushed to install a ramp for more accessibility. “It’s necessary for some people, but useful for everyone.” The ramp was a win for Bieryla, but she’s now thinking about the telescope itself. “Making sure the telescope is accessible is a whole different problem—small steps in the right direction.”

Through the years, as Bieryla has worked with students, she’s learned a few things she likes to pass on to them. 

• Try different things, whether it’s an industry job or internship in the field, or a summer job with Major League Baseball. “It’s okay to not be in a traditional box.”
• Seek out mentors. “Having great mentors is just as important (or more) than having a good research position.”
• Peer mentorship is also great. “Seniors can help freshmen, grad students can help seniors.”

Finally, Bieryla encourages everyone in the field, especially in mentorship positions, to have conversations about different pathways. “Not everyone can go into academia. Old school mindsets are sometimes hard to shift.”

While Bieryla has her hands full with the astrophysics lab at Harvard, her own research, and her work with accessibility and solar eclipses, she also makes time for another passion. “I’m a big soccer fan. I am a player, and now follow the U.S. Women’s National Team.” She attends those games to see a different type of star, but astronomy continues to be her first love.