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.

AASWomen Newsletter for January 26, 2024

AAS Committee on the Status of Women          
Issue of January 26, 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:

Linsy Abigail Martizez Rubio

1. Meet Central American-Caribbean Astronomy Bridge Program Fellows - Part 7
2. Gender equity: toward redefining values
3. Black women in academia face unique challenges on the job
4. The Lost Women of Science Initiative Announces New Grants and Projects for 2024
5. N3 Internship Application is Now Open!
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 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.

Crosspost: The Unwritten Laws of Physics for Black Women

Written by Katrina Miller for Wired

Pictured (left to right): Andrea Bryant, LaNijah Flagg, Katrina Miller, and Ayanna Matthews are doctoral students studying physics at the University of Chicago. 

At the entrance to my lab’s clean room, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror: I look like a clown. I’m drowning in a disposable coverall that hangs off of me in droopy folds, and my size 7½ feet are swallowed up by the smallest rubber boots the lab had on hand—a men’s size 12. The thick mass of curls framing my face only accentuates the caricature.

Reaching for the box of hairnets perched on a nearby counter, I fish out a thin, papery cap with a sigh. How the hell is this going to fit over my fro? I flatten my roots and tie my hair into the tightest bun I can muscle. Stretched as far as it’ll go, the hairnet only covers the back of my head. I position another over my forehead and a third to straddle the middle. Has no physicist here ever been a woman or had to contend with hair like mine? With effort, I tug the hood of my coverall over the hairnets. The taut fabric rustles loudly in my ears as I open the door to join my peers.

I am here, in a basement lab at the University of Chicago, to work on a small-scale particle detector that might help in the search for dark matter, the invisible glue that physicists believe holds the universe together. Dark matter emits no light and, as far as anyone can tell, doesn’t interact with ordinary matter in any familiar ways. But we know it exists from the way it influences the motions of the stars. The allure of dark matter is what inspired me to pursue a PhD in physics. But in more ways than one, I keep feeling like I just don’t fit.

Shout out to AAAS Mass Media Fellow and AASWomen blog contributor, Katrina Miller, for her powerful article on Black women's experiences in physics in Wired. 

Read the rest of the article at: https://www.wired.com/story/the-unwritten-laws-of-physics/

Crosspost: A Life of Transdisciplinary Science, The Expeditions of Mae Jemison

Written by Michelle Hampson for AAAS

Dr. Mae Jemison—doctor, engineer, and Star Trek fan—was the first Black woman to travel into space.

In 1992, newly elected AAAS Fellow Dr. Mae Jemison was doing an experiment where she injected several female African clawed frogs with a hormone to induce ovulation. After harvesting and carefully analyzing batches of eggs under a microscope and fertilizing the healthiest looking ones, she would periodically re-assess the embryos and take microscopic images to document their development. This protocol was part of standard experiments to study reproduction – except that it was happening in space.

Jemison was one of 15 selected from 2,000 applicants to serve in NASA’s astronaut corps and later became the science mission specialist on board the STS-47 Spacelab-J, in partnership with the Japan Space Agency. Over the course of the eight-day space mission, Jemison was tasked with many experiments, including this research project to investigate how frog embryos develop in the ultra-low gravity conditions of space.

Read the rest of the article at: https://www.aaas.org/membership/member-spotlight/life-transdisciplinary-science-expeditions-mae-jemison

Crosspost: Harriet Tubman, Astronomer Extraordinaire

While the last day of Black History Month was technically yesterday, today marks the beginning of Women's History Month. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than by sharing this wonderful piece by Dr. Chandra Prescod-Weinstein on the Black woman astronomer, freedom fighter, and abolitionist, Harriet Tubman. Be sure to check out the Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Project before March 10th for an interactive exploration of Tubman's incredible life story.

Written by Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

The Milky Way splashes across the early evening sky in "Over the Marshes 2" by photographer, Robert Fawcett. 

Polaris, the North Star, is so named because it always points toward true north. Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman used the North Star to liberate herself—then went South over and over again, using it to liberate both family and strangers. 

Toward the end of his astonishing debut novel of Black queer life during slavery, The Prophets, Robert Jones, Jr.’s “Prophets” declare: “The cosmos is on your side.” At this moment in the text, the reader is called to imagine that our enslaved ancestors were in fact watched over; we are called to remember the stories many of us were raised on, about enslaved folk who followed the Drinking Gourd—the stellar constellation more popularly known as the Big Dipper—to freedom. The Drinking Gourd is notable because of its easy-to-identify shape, which simplifies finding Polaris, the North Star, so named because it always points toward true north.

Polaris was thus a natural compass, especially for enslaved people who were self-liberating, including Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman. The story appears repeatedly throughout popular representations of Tubman: She used the North Star to liberate herself. Then, like a superhero, she went South over and over again, using the North Star to liberate both family and strangers. 

Read the rest of the article at: https://msmagazine.com/2022/02/03/harriet-tubman-astronomer-underground-railroad-north-star-nasa/ 

Crosspost: Sian Proctor makes history with SpaceX's Inspiration4 as first-ever Black female spacecraft pilot

 Written by Chelsea Gohd for space.com 

Sian Proctor is making history as the first-ever Black female spacecraft pilot.

Proctor, a geoscientist, artist and science communicator, has been paving the way in the space sector for decades. Now, years after being a finalist in NASA's astronaut candidate program back in 2009, she is realizing her dream of becoming an astronaut as she launches to orbit with the Inspiration4 mission tonight (Sept. 15).

While the mission itself is making history as the first all-civilian mission to launch to orbit, Proctor is accomplishing a major first herself as the first Black female spacecraft pilot.

"I'm really grateful to be here and to have this opportunity," Proctor said Sept. 14 during a news conference with reporters. "There have been three Black female astronauts that have made it to space, and knowing that I'm going to be the fourth means that I have this opportunity to not only accomplish my dream, but also inspire the next generation of women of color and girls of color and really get them to think about reaching for the stars and what that means."

Read the rest of the article at https://www.space.com/sian-proctor-inspiration4-first-black-female-spacecraft-pilot to learn more about the history of Black women in space and Proctor's journey from science communication to civilian astronaut. 

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.

Crosspost: Interview with Dr. Martha Gilmore

Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t belong in this field

By Nicolle Zellner via Women in Planetary Science

Martha Gilmore is the Seney Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Wesleyan University, Middletown CT. A geologist who specializes in the study of planetary surfaces using geomorphic mapping and VNIR spectroscopy on Venus, Mars and Earth, Dr. Gilmore compares spectral signatures from field and laboratory work to orbital images to better interpret the signals received from remote sensing platforms. Dr. Gilmore received the Geological Society of America’s 2020 Randolph W. “Bill” and Cecile T. Bromery Award for, in part, her significant contributions to expanding diversity in the geosciences. She is a science team member of both NASA Discovery mission teams that will explore Venus and will use her expertise in morphology and spectroscopy to help us better understand the environment of Venus.

Her most-recent publications (w/ undergrad students denoted by ^) include:

Brossier J. F., Gilmore M. S., ^Toner K., ^Stein A. (2021) Distinct mineralogy and age of individual lava flows in Atla Regio, Venus derived from Magellan radar emissivity, J. Geophys. Res., 126, e2020JE006722, doi: 10.1029/2020JE006722

Resor P. G., Gilmore M. S., ^Straley B., Senske D. A., Herrick R. R. (2021) Felsic tesserae on Venus permitted by lithospheric deformation models, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2020JE006642

Brossier J. F., Gilmore M. S. (2021) Variations in the radiophysical properties of tesserae and mountain belts on Venus: Classification and mineralogical trends, Icarus, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114161.

Read the rest of Nicolle's interview with Dr. Martha Gilmore here:
https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2021/06/16/martha-gilmore-dont-let-anyone-tell-you-that-you-dont-belong-in-this-field/

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/ 

Crosspost: Black women’s experiences in STEM inspire an annual workshop

By Bryné Hadnott

When LaNell Williams arrived at Harvard University in 2017 to begin a graduate program in physics, several of her peers told her she had been admitted only because she was a Black woman—her 3.9 GPA, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and two coauthored scientific papers notwithstanding. During an open house for the incoming class, she asked her fellow students why they thought no other underrepresented racial minority woman had been admitted to the physics department that year. “We [women of color] hear many different things in those conversations, one of them being that we’re not interested in physics, which isn’t true,” Williams says. “Or that some of us don’t have the pedigree, which is also not true. And then the last thing is that we don’t apply—and in some cases that is true.”

Photo courtesy of LaNell Williams

In Williams’s experience, however, many women of color had both the grades and the aptitude for physics, but they were discouraged from applying to graduate programs by their professors, advisers, and classmates. “I wanted to prove them wrong,” she says of her peers at Harvard. She was determined to show just how many talented candidates there really are. “I wanted to say to those women that you are as good as, if not better than, some of the people who might be applying to graduate school,” Williams explains.

In 2019 Williams founded the Women+ of Color (WOC+) Project, an annual three-day workshop that encourages women and gender-nonconforming people of color to pursue advanced STEM degrees and provides resources on how to apply for and succeed in graduate school. The WOC+ Project has gone on to win the Materials Today Agent of Change Award. Now, Williams, graduate students L. Miché Aaron and Ayanna Jones, and several other graduate student volunteers are working to expand the workshop’s scope to support women of color throughout their academic careers.

Read the rest of the article at: https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.5.20210510a/full/ 

that's who I am, that's who I be, but that's not everything

"When I walk into a room, most people see me as confident and ready to take on the world. As an engineer in the aerospace industry, that’s the persona I would like them to see. But in reality, I’m most likely experiencing a serious level of anxiety stimulated by my invisible disability."

Dr. Renee Horton, whose career has taken her all over the world, discussed her experiences as a black woman in science at the October 2020 meeting of the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences. Now a Quality Engineer in the NASA Residential Management Office at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Dr. Horton's inspirational messages remind us that overcoming imposter syndrome, finding some sort of balance in our lives, living with intersecting identities, and figuring out our life's passion(s) are constant challenges. 

Below Dr. Horton shares her wisdom with us; links to slides and a recording of her talk can be found at the end of this post.

Describe briefly your day-to-day activities in your job, including opportunities to be creative and to take initiative.

Currently my day-to-day consist of multiple meetings with occasional days in the factor or a trip to the test stand to complete paperwork. 

My morning routine before work consist of answering emails and checking my calendar and a workout twice to three times a week. 

Currently my work schedule is from 6:00 to 3:30.

What were the most important factors that led you to stay in science and engineering?

I want to make a difference for the next generation and I want to change the face of STEM.

What have been particularly valuable skills that you gained through completing your degree?

Resilience and perseverance 

Describe job hunting and networking strategies that lead you to your current position.

My position was a direct lead of me doing an intern with NASA.

What advice do you have for people who are contemplating a career in science, especially those who identify along multiple axes?

Use being multi-dimensional to your advantage. Don’t allow them to paint you into a box and you define yourself.

What advice do you have for leaders who are seeking ways to make professional environments more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and accessible?

Be willing to accept the talent as it comes and don’t try to force them into an uncomfortable situation. Be willing to check yourself for inherent biases and be open to difference. 

Learn more:

"Don't Silence Our Voice at the Table", 2020 DPS Talk and Slides

"NASA engineer K. Renee Horton explains how the challenges of a hidden disability can be compounded by racial and gender bias", Physics Today

Dr. Horton's website

AASWomen Newsletter for January 15, 2021

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of January 15, 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.]

Henrietta Swan Leavitt, from item 2.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

This week's issues:

1. Apply for the Carnegie Astrophysics Summer Student Internship Program

2. Madam starmaker: Henrietta Swan Leavitt transformed a powerful astronomical tradition

3. Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson: A lifetime shattering glass ceilings in math and science for Black women

4. That's One Hot Job! How Kelly Korreck Became An Astrophysicist

5. Gage: Quashing the Matilda Effect

6. No Gender Bias in Peer Review: Study

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.

AASWomen Newsletter for July 19, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of July 19, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride

[AAS has migrated their email system to Microsoft Exchange, so please check your spam folder if you did not receive the newsletter this week. It is no longer possible to subscribe or unsubscribe to the AASWomen newsletter by means of Google Groups. We have updated our subscribe and unsubscribe instructions below. Please follow us on social media for updates and thank you for bearing with us as we work out all the kinks.
Twitter @AAS_Women Facebook https://bit.ly/2PkU9of

Margaret W. "Hap" Brennecke in 1964, Credit: NASA

This week's issues:

1. Your Memories of Dr. Margaret Burbidge

2. Margaret "Hap" Brennecke: The woman who welded Apollo's rockets

3. Women of Apollo

4. A Woman's Place is in Space: Meet Eight Asian American Women Reaching for the Stars

5. The Black Women Food Scientists Who Created Meals For Astronauts

6. To Make It to the Moon, Women Have to Escape Earth's Gender Bias

7. While NASA Was Landing on the Moon, Many African-Americans Sought Economic Justice Instead

8. Three generations of space experts react to the Moon landings

9. SETI Institute Collaborates with Girl Scouts to Develop New Space Science Badges

10. Science history: Esther Conwell 'jump-started the computer age'

11. The universal Universe or making astronomy inclusive

12. Jeffrey Epstein liked palling around with scientists - What do the think now?

13. How Coding Has Changed (And Not) For Women In The Past 30 Years

14. Girls' superb verbal skills may contribute to the gender gap in math

15. At STEM Competitions, Gender Norms Still Hold Girls Back

16. Astronomy Club Sets Netflix Sketch Comedy Series With Kenya Barris Producing

17. Job Opportunities

18. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

19. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

20. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

AASWomen Newsletter for April 26, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 26, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride

[AAS has migrated the mailing list for this newsletter to Mailman. Therefore, it is no longer possible to subscribe or unsubscribe to the AASWomen newsletter by means of Google Groups. Current subscribers will continue to receive their newsletter issues through the existing email listserv until their subscriptions are ported to the new system. No action on their part is needed. Please follow us on social media for updates:
Twitter @AAS_Women Facebook https://bit.ly/2PkU9of

Image Credit: Corey Gray, from item 1

This week's issues:

1. Repost: Facing the Future: The CSWA seeks your input on our community needs in the 2020s!

2. Meet the Mother-Son Duo Translating Astrophysics Into Blackfoot

3. 'This is the tip of the iceberg': More than 8,500 women have joined the 500 Women Scientists database

4. Where are the Black Women in STEM Leadership?

5. Sexual harassment is pervasive in US physics programmes

6. Program Aims to Train South African Girls in Science Fields

7. Power Of The Pack: Women Who Support Women Are More Successful

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

Cross-post: Where Women Must Defy the Odds to Become Scientists

In a new documentary, National Geographic Explorers Clare Fieseler and Gabby Salazar focus on stories of women with careers in science who face intense cultural and social barriers. The film, Outnumbered in Africa, focuses on Moreangels Mbizah, a lion conservationalist in Zimbabwe.

Read the interview with Fieseler and Salazar at:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/women-harassment-outnumbered-clare-feiseler-gabby-salazar-explorers-science/

On Planck’s Law, Blackbodies and the Physics of Diversity

Dr. Jedidah Isler
@JedidahIslerPhD

Reproduced from the June 2014 Issue of STATUS: A Report on Women in Astronomy.  The article below is written by Dr. Jedidah Isler, Syracuse University, Department of Physics.

Diversity and inclusion are important, yet vexing, issues that we struggle with in every arena. Academia and, more specifically, astronomy are not exempt. Many interpretations of the experiences of diverse people have been offered, but unfortunately, many have fallen short in pivotal ways.

As an astrophysicist, I see the beauty and logic that physics allows us to impose on the cosmos, but also on a broader array of issues. Sociophysics, for example, “uses concepts from the physics of disordered matter to describe some aspects of social and political behavior.” [1] I would like, then, to describe a few diversity issues in terms of a physical concept that astronomers are familiar with, namely Planck’s Law. This analogy is not perfect, but it affords us a mechanism to address some of the complexity of diversity conversations and direct us towards more globally beneficial diversity practices.

Even before I begin, I acknowledge that I cannot address all aspects of diversity, which includes the full spectrum of ethnicity, class and sexual expression. I focus on the diverse experiences of women (broadly defined), but these principles can generally be extended to other dimensions of diversity. Still, I encourage expansion of our colloquial definitions of diversity, even as social psychologists grapple with characterizing our behavior surrounding it. My goal is not to establish who suffers most, but to suggest that different groups suffer differently and in profoundly complicated ways. Thus, this article is for all of us. It is an attempt to provide a familiar framework for this complex issue.