AASWomen Newsletter for July 10, 2026

Isobel Romero-Shaw, item 4.
Credit: Cardiff University

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of July 10, 2026
eds: Jeremy Bailin, 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. Crosspost: Building a culture of inclusion and allyship for queer astronomers
2. From the Archives: Career Profile: Astronomer to Analytics Company Founder and Chief Scientist
3. Benjamin Franklin NextGen Award
4. Dr. Isobel Romero-Shaw awarded Caroline Herschel Prize Lectureship 2026
5. Having a child during grad school is especially hard on women
6. Hong Kong’s first astronaut inspires students to reach for the stars
7. L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Week 2026: Celebrating excellence and inspiring future generations
8. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: She Discovered What Stars Are Made Of
9. The Elements of Marie Curie
10. University of Valencia action to promote balanced participation of women and men in Astronomy and Astrophysics
11. Women Nobel Laureates in STEM (2000–2023): Life Stories, Challenges, and How They Achieved Impact for Success
12. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
14. 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.

From the Archives: Career Profile: Astronomer to Analytics Company Founder and Chief Scientist

Today's From the Archives features Dr. Genevieve Graves' 2016 career interview profile. Ten years on, Dr. Graves continues to work successfully outside of astronomy. Enjoy today's trip into the archives. 

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

Below is our interview with Dr. Genevieve Graves, an astronomer who left astronomy to co-found a "people analytics" company, hiQ Labs, and become its chief data scientist. Dr. Graves received her Ph.D. at UC Santa Cruz working with Professor Sandra Faber. Following her Ph.D., she went to the UC Berkeley Department of Astronomy as a Miller Fellow and then to the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University as a postdoctoral fellow. Her astronomical research focussed on star formation histories and galaxy evolution.  

Recently, she was featured in the Harvard Business Review in an article on "Why people quit their jobs" (see the "This is an Early Warning Signal" feature box).

For access to all our Career Profile Project interviews, please visit http://aas.org/jobs/career-profiles. New Career Profiles are posted approximately every month.

Crosspost: Building a culture of inclusion and allyship for queer astronomers

SGMA, the Committee for Sexual-Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy, was recently featured in Nature.com. SGMA wrote an article discussing the history of the committee, which began through informal dinners at AAS conferences. These dinners provided queer astronomers and allies with community and the space to share their experiences within the profession. SGMA also highlights how it brings queer astronomers together now through AAS conferences, online meet-ups, and community-sourced resources on inclusion and allyship. 

SGMA logo (AAS)

In the Nature.com article, SGMA states, "Thus, it is imperative that all members of the astronomy community, not just those who identify as queer, engage in advocacy efforts to protect and advance the rights of queer individuals."

Read SGMA's full article at nature.com or at aas.org.

astronomy community, not just those who

identify as queer, engage in advocacy efforts

to protect and advance the rights of queer

individuals.”