Highlighting Stories of Black Women In Science This Month

As we celebrate Black History Month this February, we've gathered stories and interviews of Black women in science. Read on!

Image by ekavesh from Pixabay

In Stories From Black Physicists in Our Collection, the AIP collected interviews from members and presented them this February in a series of not-to-be-missed articles.

Read about Lynnae C. Quick, a Senior Planetary Scientist at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). Quick previously worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center  before joining the Applied Physics Lab. Currently, she focuses on modeling volcanic processes on the terrestrial planets and the icy moons of the outer solar system. Read Quick's story, and find her AIP Oral History Interviews at AIP.org. 

Director of Johnson Space Center Vanessa E. Wyche oversees a broad swath of programs, from Mission Control Center, International Space Station, Orion, and Gateway programs. Wyche has held many leadership positions within NASA. Check out this Fireside Chat with Wyche from ExploreMars.org, where Wyche outlines the roadmap to returning humans to the Moon and more on Johnson Space Center's programs. 

Join Vanessa Wyche, NASA's Acting Associate Administrator, in an exclusive fireside chat at the 2025 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit (H2M2), held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Moderated by J.R. Edwards, President of Explore Mars, Inc.

Scientific American interviewed Aomawa Shields in 2023 at the release of her memoir Life On Other Planets. Find the interview Only 26 Black Women Have Ever Become Astrophysicists in the U.S. Here's One Story. Shields also founded Rising Stargirls to encourage girls of all colors to learn and discover more about space. You can watch SheShields' TEDx talk "How We'll Find Life on Other Planets" on YouTube, among other videos. Shields brings an acting background to her work, giving her a unique, multifaceted approach to science. 

Aomawa Shields, How We'll Find Life On Other Planets, TedEx. 

From the Women in Astronomy blog archives, (re)read this crosspost by Dr. Jedidah Isler: On Planck's Law, Blackbodies, and the Physics of Diversity, first published in the June 2014 issue of Status. 

Happy Black History Month. We celebrate all of the contributions Black women have made in astronomy and physics and look forward to even more to celebrate. 

Crosspost: From Rocket Science To Space Travel, This Unicorn Founder’s Journey To Success

Eds. note: With Black In Astro, we celebrate #BlackSpaceWeek this week. The below cross-posted article highlights the career of Aisha Bowe, who is scheduled to fly in space in 2024, as only the 6th Black female astronaut in history. Ad astra, Aisha!

By Ebony Flake, for Essence

"Standing apart isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, it's a signal that you are unique and doing something extraordinary," Aisha Bowe shared.

Image Credit: Essence

Feeling less certain about her direction than she perceived her peers to be, Aisha enrolled at the local Washtenaw Community College. There, she met a diverse group of people with different backgrounds and aspirations. As they collectively chartered the course of self-discovery, she realized that many of the beliefs she held about herself were not her own but shaped by others’ opinions, expectations, and resentful projections of their unfulfilled aspirations. “I had to stop and go: There’s a reason why you don’t feel confident. There’s a reason why you don’t feel beautiful. There’s a reason why you don’t feel strong. Are those reasons yours? Or where they imposed upon you?” The answers would become clear in time.

Today, Aisha Bowe is a two-time startup founder, including the elite engineering firm STEMBoard, twice acknowledged as one of America’s fastest-growing. She’s also a Blue Origin astronaut, a business thought leader, and a former NASA aerospace engineer. It’s been an exciting journey for that spunky teen unclear about her path. “I still, to this day, can’t understand why society expects you to know what you want to be before you even begin to understand who you are,” she told ESSENCE.

Read more at

https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/aisha-bowe-rocket-science-unicorn-founder/

Bowe is scheduled to go to space in 2024 as the first Black woman on the New Shepard rocket, part of Jeff Bezos's spaceflight company Blue Origin. Read about Aisha's astronaut selection at

https://afrotech.com/aisha-bowe-first-black-woman-to-fly-with-blue-origin-to-space?item=2

Information about Black in Astro's #BlackSpaceWeek can be found at 

https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2024/06/celebrate-black-in-space-week-2024.html

Celebrate Black in Space Week 2024

By Ashley Walker, Caprice Phillips, AJ Link, LLM, KeShawn Ivory, Naia Butler-Craig, Robert Washington III, and Cheyenne Polius

Black In Astro is excited to announce #BlackSpaceWeek, which runs from June 16 to June 22, 2024 and will provide the opportunity for the Black Space Community to celebrate our multidimensionality and everything that it entails. Starting with the #BSWRollCall and continuing for the rest of #BlackSpaceWeek, we cannot wait to get into #MTheory and what it means to be #AfroDynamic; we will provide a #LiftOff platform to showcase our collective talents and reflect on #ContainingMultitudes; and finish the week by putting on #ForTheCulture and looking towards an #NDimensional future by honoring our past. Click here to

• see the schedule of events, 
• submit artwork, 
• register for panels and chats, and
• register for research showcases.

We are multidimensional beings made of stardust. This year, for #BlackSpaceWeek, the Black In Astro team wants to uplift how our community brings our multidimensional identities and experiences with us into Space. 

The concept of multidimensionality allows us to acknowledge that our identities are not just intersectional, but ever changing and ever evolving based on our lived experiences. Multidimensionality is a way of expressing our constant relationship with everything around us, from the current matrices of oppression to the historical wisdoms of our ancestors, and from our individual struggles to our collective liberation. 

To embrace multidimensionality is to celebrate how we are just as complex and fascinating 

and worthy of awe as the universe we are traversing. 

Come join us for #BlackSpaceWeek 2024!

Celebrating Black in STEM - Part 1

NASA Pioneers and Innovators (Image Credit: NASA)

Since 1976, every American president has officially designated February as Black History Month, a celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time to acknowledge and recognize their central role in American history. The annual event grew out of "Negro History Week", initiated by historian and civil rights leader Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Around the world other countries also devote a month to celebrating Black history. Read more about the month's history here.

Organizations that support scientists in astronomy and physics have provided resources, guidance, and advice for advancing the careers of Black astronomers and physicists. Below is a partial list. 

• Black in Astro
• Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (AAS)
• Astronomy in Color
• Black Lives in Astronomy (Andrew Fraknoi)
• Celebrating Black History, including curated physics resources and news (AIP)
• National Society of Black Physicists
• Women of Color: Pioneers and Innovators (NASA)
• Resource Guide for Black and African American Students in STEM (bestcolleges.com)
• Supporting Black/African Americans in STEM (NSF)

Do you recommend others? Please add them in the comments section.

Crosspost: Madagascar STEM Non-profit Completes a Successful OAD Proj

From the International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development

A team of female scientists from Ikala STEM (Women in STEM – Madagascar) implemented LAMPS (Leveraging Local Astronomy to Promote STEM), a project to directly address the inequality between urban and rural Madagascar in accessing quality STEM education and to showcase the relevance of science in everyday life. Originally planned to be held in the AVN-host city of Arivonimamo, this Office of Astronomy for Development-funded project was adapted to a two-stage STEM education hybrid event, a one-week online activity (e-LAMPS) and school visits by LAMPS volunteers, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

e-LAMPS online program
e-LAMPS was held in June 2021 under the theme “Science in our daily life” or “STEM, incontournable dans notre quotidien” in French. Primarily targeted at middle and high school learners as well as tertiary students, e-LAMPS was designed to substitute the planned in-person STEM Fair (cancelled due to the pandemic). The event consisted of online quizzes, games, talks etc, targeting Malagasy middle and high school learners all over the country. The Ikala STEM Facebook page and website as well TV (TVM, Dream’in, TV Plus Madagascar) and radio (Fivoarana in Arivonimamo, RNM reaching around the country) stations, printed newspapers (e.g. L’Express de Madagascar) and posters were used to ensure maximum reach for e-LAMPS. Seven STEM-focused NGOs partnered with Ikala STEM during this virtual component of the project. More than 100 high school learners participated in the e-Quiz Contest and at least 15,000 people were reached virtually throughout the event.

Read the rest of the article and learn more about the the IAU OAD's work in Madagascar here: https://www.astro4dev.org/2021/11/02/madagascar-stem-non-profit-completes-a-successful-oad-project/ 

Meet Dr. Moiya McTier, astronomer, storyteller, and author

Written By: Tiffany Wolbrecht

Photo of Dr. Moiya McTier outside smiling at the camera

Meet Moiya

Dr. Moiya McTier is an astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator based in NYC. She's written a science fiction novel, given hundreds of talks about science around the world, helped design exhibits for the New York Hall of Science, and is currently working on a popular science book about the history of the Milky Way galaxy for Grand Central Publishing. Moiya's favorite way to combine her unique set of expertise is to build fictional worlds based on facts and science, which she does through workshops, classes, and her podcast Exolore. You can learn more about Moiya and her work on her website moiyamctier.com

Why did you choose to study astronomy? 

So many of my astronomy colleagues fell in love with the night sky when they were children. My introduction to the field was a lot more recent and a little less inspired. I found astronomy by chance in my sophomore year of college when a friend asked me to go with her to an introductory astronomy class. I wasn't very interested, but the professor said we'd get free pizza every week, so I registered for the course. By the end of the semester, I thought it was so cool that we could study stars and galaxies and other space phenomena billions of lightyears away without leaving our random little rocky planet.

I don't think astronomy is inherently more exciting or interesting than other fields, but I do appreciate how useful it is for getting other people interested in science. I like to call astronomy a "gateway science" because it's something that pretty much everyone on Earth can experience without training or fancy equipment. And I like to think that once I help people get their foot in the astronomy door, they can't help but take more steps into the room.

What are your aspirations?

Since graduating with my PhD in April, I've been able to pursue science communication full-time, and I feel so much more fulfilled than I ever did as a researcher, so this is definitely what I want to do with the rest of my life. More specifically (because science communication is a broad term), I want to use storytelling and comedy through a media lens to help people better understand the science of the world around them. I want to write books, give talks, host podcasts... and I'm already doing these things! My next big goal is to host my own science-comedy TV show to reach people who wouldn't self-select to attend more traditional outreach events.

Who inspired you?

People ask me this question often, and I feel bad saying this, but the honest answer is that no one inspired me to do what I'm doing. Growing up, I knew I was good at math and science, but I didn't see anyone who looked like me doing it professionally. My only example of a Black lady scientist was B'elanna Torres, a fictional alien Star Trek character. And even today, there are only about 100 black women in the US with PhDs in any physics related field! Since I didn't have any relatable role models back then, I forged my own path through science and into science communication. And when I'm feeling tired or worn out in my work, I'm inspired to keep going by my Black peers who are pushing barriers RIGHT NOW and by the young black girls who don't have to be the first because we broke that barrier for them. The field still has so so so much work to do before it's "fair" or "equitable," but I'm inspired by the people pushing for that progress.

What have you been working on since graduating? 

Right now, I'm finishing up a popular science book about the history of the Milky Way Galaxy, but I'm writing it from the galaxy's point of view as if it's writing its own autobiography. The book is expected to be published in Fall 2022 by Grand Central Publishing. As for what's next... I don't have any concrete plans yet, but I have a lot of stuff in the works. I guess you'll just have to follow me to find out what happens :)

What skills did you gain through completing your degree?

I think the most important skill I learned in my PhD program was the ability to see both the forest and the trees at the same time, to see how the smallest details fit into the larger picture. In the US, a PhD program can take five, six, or more years (my mom took 16 years to finish her PhD in English.) In that time, PhD students are expected to become the world's leading expert in a specific subject, which takes time, and means approaching a single question from as many angles as possible. It's so easy to get lost in the weeds of your research project, but part of earning the PhD is learning to untangle all of your research threads.

Are there any expectations you had about the astronomy field that you have found differed from reality?

I never really intended to be an astronomer, so I never formed expectations about astronomy specifically. But my mom was working on her PhD in English when I was young, so I grew up in the academy. I spent time in college classrooms before I could talk, and I was actually participating in college classes by the time I was 10. So I always thought of academia as a magical place where smart people could learn and share knowledge and let their ideas flourish. I didn't have this word back then, but I expected it to be a meritocracy, and it most certainly isn't.

Now I see that academia favors the privileged, that it isn't available to everyone who wants to access it, and that it's set up in a way that ignores the needs of the very people who can make it great. Application fees, "goodness of fit" conversations in hiring committees, the GRE, opaque hierarchical structures...these are the parts of academia that I didn't expect to face. These are the parts of academia that pushed me out of the field.

What community issues are important to you and why?

The astronomy community has started to reckon with a lot of its issues recently, many of them publicly. Issues surrounding unpunished sexual harassment, lack of diversity and equity, forcing trans scientists to keep their deadnames on scientific publications, grad students living below the poverty line despite the fact that universities literally could not function without grad labor, outdated publishing practices that stifle creativity and perpetuate existing social heirarchies, etc. There are too many issues in the community and they're all important to me because they all affect the way that we can share our science with the rest of the world.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to take the same career path as you?

Well, first, I would say that everyone's career path is unique, so don't get too hung up on copying anyone else's path precisely. But if you're interested in doing full-time science communication after going through grad school, here are my tips:
1. Figure out your motivation. Why do you want to do scicomm?
2. Find your preferred audience and scicomm style by practicing often! Do you like working with kids or adults? Are you more goofy like Bill Nye or grandiose like Carl Sagan? Are you more comfortable writing or speaking? Look for opportunities to test these out while you're in grad school so you're ready to go once you graduate.

AASWomen Newsletter for June 25, 2021

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of June 25, 2021
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:

Left to right: Dr. Jessica Taaffe, Gitanjali Rao,
Dr. Jayshree Seth, Dr. Ciara Sivels, from item 7

1. Women of Arecibo: Dr. Nipuni Palliyaguru

2. #BlackInAstroWeek2021: Day One, June 20

3. Crosspost: Observing Juneteenth and Black in Astro Week

4. 4000 Years of Women in Science class

5. Open Letter for Codes of Conduct in Astronomy Collaborations

6. Astronomers victimized colleagues - and put historic Swedish department in turmoil

7. Female Scientists Blaze Paths for Future Generations in 3M Documentary, 'Not the Science Type'

8. Job Opportunities

9. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

11. 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.

#BlackInAstroWeek2021: Day One, June 20

#BlackInAstroGrandSlam, June 20, 2021 

KeShawn Ivory, an incoming PhD student at Vanderbilt University studying dark matter haloes, quickly cleared his throat and sang, in a honeyed voice, a beautiful a capella rendition of SZA's "Good Days". When the song finished, everyone erupted into cheers. "Okayyy, KeShawn's got bars!" someone praised. Even on Zoom the day after Juneteenth, the Black In Astro community was in high spirits. What followed was a day of joy, laughter, and above all, a celebration of the diversity of experiences within the Black diaspora.

Next, JoAnn C. Roberts, also known by her stage name "Paradigm," performed a stirring selection of poems from her new book, Continuum: A Collection of Poetry. Her works ran the gamut from revolutionary with detailed descriptions of complex physics concepts to healing and uplifting. The audience fell along with Roberts into a sort of rhythmic trance; when she spoke, one couldn't help but listen to the power and the lyrical cadence of her words. She'll be performing more of her incredible work on Thursday, June 24th for #BlackWholeDay during #BlackInAstroWeek. 

The day ended with a look into LGPHY ARCADE, a mobile app developed by India Jackson, an astrophysics PhD candidate at Georgia State University and mother to a wonderful, teenaged daughter. While working on her dissertation, she came up with the idea of developing a simulation to predict the effects of energetic particles and cosmic rays on future astronauts heading to Mars. To fund her research, Jackson learned 10 different coding languages, wrote over one hundred thousand lines of code, and founded Let's Get Physical, LLC, a software publishing company focused on creating content for the Black nerd (Blerd) community. LGPHY ARCADE, Jackson's flagship app, features games that incorporate her scientific research, love of Blerd culture, and retro video games while also supporting local Atlanta businesses. Learn more about LGPHY ARCADE at Jackson's GoFundMe page and you can download the app for both Apple and Android devices. 

Stay tuned for our ongoing coverage of #BlackInAstroWeek and head over to https://www.blackinastro.com/flyer for more details about all of the amazing events for the next week!

Crosspost: Observing Juneteenth and Black in Astro Week

 

This coming week provides an opportunity to celebrate and amplify the Black experience in astronomy- and space-related fields. [BLM; ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)]

#BlackInAstro Series on Astrobites

This series, a collaboration between Astrobites and the Black In Astro community, is ongoing; you can check the the #BlackinAstro tag on the astrobites website for new posts.

Be sure to check out two of our favorite posts by our very own blogger, Katrina Miller!

1. #BlackInAstro Unsung Heroes: Crystal Tinch by guest author Katrina Miller (16 Apr 2021)
2. #BlackInAstro Experiences: Katrina Miller by Mia de los Reyes (30 Oct 2021)

Juneteenth #BlackInPhysics Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon

Celebrate Juneteenth Freedom Day with the American Physical Society and @BlackinPhysics by attending a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Sunday, June 20, 12:00–3:00 p.m. ET, where we’ll be creating & editing Wikipedia pages about Black physicists. Anyone is welcome to attend. Sign up today! https://go.aps.org/2Re7iEu

#BlackInAstro Week

June 20–26 is Black in Astro Week 2021! Join the Black in Astro community in celebrating and amplifying Black experiences in astronomy- and space-related fields in a week of events, panels, and more at BlackInAstro.com and on Twitter. The schedule and themes for each day of the week are listed below; you can sign up for events and find out more at BlackInAstro.com.

To see more details on Black In Astro Week, check out AAS NOVA's post: https://aasnova.org/2021/06/18/observing-juneteenth-and-black-in-astro-week/ 

AASWomen Newsletter for April 23, 2021

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 23, 2021
eds: Heather Flewelling, Nicolle Zellner, Maria Patterson, Jeremy Bailey, and Alessandra Aloisi

Crystal Tinch, Communications
and Engagement Coordinator for
the AAS, works to forge stronger
bonds between members of the 
astronomical community.
(from News Item #2)

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

This week's issues:

1. Crosspost: Closing the gender gap in the Australian astronomy workforce
2. Crosspost: #BlackInAstro Unsung Heroes: Crystal Tinch 
3. National academy may eject two famous scientists for sexual harassment
4. New support network: Disabled for Accessibility In Space (DAIS)
5. Reimagining STEM Workforce Development as a Braided River
6. Q&A: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute president Shirley Ann Jackson on navigating the ivory tower as a Black woman
7. Job Opportunities
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

Crosspost: #BlackInAstro Unsung Heroes: Crystal Tinch

This post is part of our series #BlackInAstro. For our cornerstone post, see here. The “Unsung Heroes” series aims to highlight the work of folks who are not professional astronomers, but whose work is crucial to the astronomical community!

In this installment, we are publishing an interview with Crystal Tinch, a staff member at the American Astronomical Society.

Eighteen years ago, Crystal Tinch was hired to work at the American Astronomical Society, or AAS.

Crystal Tinch, Communications
and Engagement Coordinator for
the AAS, works to forge stronger
bonds between members of the 
astronomical community.

"It's funny because when I started, my friends were like, what do you know about astronomy?" she laughs. But I'm involved in everything that communicates to our membership, like the social media, the directory, and all of the emails that go out.” 

Tinch has a degree in English with a photography minor, and originally worked at an art gallery in Buffalo, New York, before relocating to Washington, D.C. “I really just moved on a whim,” she says. Soon after, she found her current position at the AAS.

As Communications and Engagement Coordinator, Tinch is the glue that holds the astronomical community together. She has helped with the biannual AAS Meetings, facilitated elections for AAS leadership, maintained a list of obituaries to honor members who have passed away, assisted with the production of AAS educational content, and more.

Read more about Crystal Tinch at

https://astrobites.org/2021/04/16/blackinastro-unsung-heroes-crystal-tinch/

AASWomen Newsletter for February 19, 2021

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 19, 2021
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.]

Arianna Rosenbluth, from item 3
Credit: The Rosenbluth Family

This week's issues:

1. The pursuit of gender equity in astronomy: how do we know what’s working?

2. #BlackInAstro founder Ashley Walker is fighting for equality in the space sciences

3. Arianna Rosenbluth Dies at 93; Pioneering Figure in Data Science

4. Pay gap widens between female and male scientists in North America

5. Panel: Money, Gender & Diversity in Higher Ed

6. Jon Schneider's Tech Blog: Interview: Amanda Schneider Milne, Software Developer / Manager / Executive

7. Job Opportunities

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.