Issue of May 29, 2026
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. Action Alert: Protect Programs to Broaden Participation in STEM
2. Career Interview Series: How Stories and Stars Led Lauren Albin to Astronomy
3. Crosspost: The Bra-and-Girdle Maker That Fashioned the Impossible for NASA
4. Kirsten Banks named one of Forbes 30 Under 30
5. Highlights from the AAS YouTube Channel
6. Job Opportunities
7. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
9. 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.
The House recently released appropriations bills with language that would prohibit funding for offices, initiatives, and grants that expand opportunity and broaden participation, sweeping up many STEM workforce programs. Take action now to urge Congress to eliminate these harmful provisions.
We would appreciate it if you’d be willing to share this action alert with your committees and broader communities. We are partnering with APS, NSBP, and AAPT on this campaign. A subset of those who participate in the action alert will be invited to participate in congressional meetings (both in DC and in-district) later this summer/fall, so anyone who would be interested in this should definitely do the action alert.
https://takeaction.aps.org/lp/gw011sdk
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Roohi
P.S. Sorry, I forgot to add that we’ve heard some concerns from AAS members about the limited list of prefixes allowed on the action alert form. Unfortunately, APS is not able to change this because certain congressional offices will not accept messages unless the prefix used matches one of those in the drop-down list. I’m sorry that we are not able to change this!
For now, anyone who isn’t comfortable participating using the form is welcome to contact me, and I can help them directly get in touch with their congressional offices.
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, and enthusiasts. These interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals who have navigated both traditional and non-traditional paths in the field.
As a child, Lauren Albin was immersed in star lore. Her father worked at a planetarium as a planetary geologist, and she spent many days inside the dome gazing at the night sky. Albin got to know the staff well, too. She hung out with Judy, the technician, and observed the staff, absorbing how these different people came together to tell stories about the stars.
Her father also included Lauren in his hobbies and interests, from building telescopes in the garage to rock collecting and meteorite hunting. At the same time, Lauren’s mother taught language arts in the local school system, and she shared her love of reading and literature with her daughter. These two loves—story and stars—drew Albin into poetry writing. She pursued English literature and creative writing at Agnes Scott College.
Read more at
https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2026/05/career-interview-series-how-stories-and.html
By Nicholas de Monchaux
In 1966, when seamstresses at the International Latex Corporation arrived at its new Apollo Suit shopfloor in Frederica, Delaware, they were essentially “taught to sew again from scratch.” And for good reason: Compared to the company’s bras and girdles, the craftsmanship needed to fashion a spacesuit was, in every sense, out of this world.
Read more at
https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2026/05/crosspost-bra-and-girdle-maker-that.html
Kirsten Banks, known to hundreds of thousands of followers on social media as AstroKirsten, is an Australia-based astrophysicist who makes the wonders of the universe--black holes, cosmic discoveries, the search for life beyond Earth--accessible and engaging. She uses her Wiradjuri heritage to incorporate Indigenous teachings about the stars. Banks is a brand ambassador for Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow program and a lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology.
Read more at
https://www.forbes.com/profile/kirsten-banks/
https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2026/asia/social-media-marketing-advertising
Recent AAS YouTube videos showcase AAS journal authors Matija Ćuk and Maryame El Moutamid; Julianne Dalcanton; and Madeline Lucey and Cecilia Mateu. Visit the AAS YouTube channel to hear from members of our community.
See more at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHERs5D6qhg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eewSudl4w34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY6IA7hH6HU
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
- Executive Director of Cal-Bridge, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
https://jobs.uci.edu/careers-home/jobs/147696
To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_lists.aas.org .
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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.
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