Astronomers for Planet Earth: Michelle Willebrands

This feature is part of our ongoing series about the amazing women at Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E), a global network of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts dedicated to offering their unique perspective to the fight for climate justice. For this post, we'll hear from Michelle Willebrands, a project officer for the European Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (E-ROAD).

If you're interested in learning more about A4E's work combating global climate change and want to get involved, join them here at: https://astronomersforplanet.earth/join-us-1. And be sure to check out A4E's white paper on what astronomers (like you!) can do to address the climate crisis: Astronomers for Planet Earth: Engaging with the Public to Forge a Sustainable Future.

Michelle Willebrands is a project manager with E-ROAD with a focus on forging partnerships between European and African scientists.

What is your current career and how did you end up there?
I am the coordinator of the International Astronomical Union’s European Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (IAU E-ROAD) based at Leiden, the Netherlands. I did a master’s degree in astronomy and decided to specialize in science communication. During this specialization, I got the chance to work at the headquarters of this office in Cape Town and learn about the field of astronomy for development. After my studies, applying for this position was a great opportunity to continue working in this niche within astronomy and I was lucky enough to get the position. Now, I look at how astronomy can contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and set up projects and collaborations to do so.

What is your role in Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E)?
I have been involved fairly early on when the European chapter was established. I try to help out with the operations and across the various projects, including for example the recent Open Letter initiative. In general, I also try to connect A4E with the global network of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) that I am part of. Climate change and sustainability are crucial topics when addressing the sustainable development goals (SDGs), so this connection between A4E and the OAD is a very natural one to me.

What goals do you have for your role in A4E?
At A4E, I hope that I can keep contributing with the expertise and network that I have. One thing that matters to me a lot is the social justice aspect of the climate crisis. Currently, A4E does not represent astronomers from all over the world, although we are trying to engage with astronomers everywhere. I hope that we can achieve creating a diverse network with voices from all backgrounds and perspectives in the near future.

Describe the first time you made a personal connection between your passion for astronomy and the urgency of fighting climate change.
Climate change was a topic that I think I always connected to astronomy in outreach, but the time that the urgency of the climate crisis really hit me may actually coincide with that of some of the other members from Europe. One of the first conferences I attended in my current position was the 2019 annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society in Lyon, France, during which there was a heatwave. To try and keep the attendants comfortable there were plastic bottles with water everywhere you looked but it was still unpleasant to be with so many people in an old building. The combination of the extreme heat, the plastic litter and the fact that so many people had travelled (by train or airplane) to take part in the conference felt a bit ridiculous and almost immoral. It was during this conference that the precursor of what is now the European A4E chapter was first raised and I joined briefly afterwards.

How does your career in astronomy intersect with the fight against climate change?
In my position of E-ROAD coordinator, I am lucky enough that I can look at astronomy in the broadest sense possible: as a research field, in education and public engagement, the benefits it brings to society, but also the challenges we face in sustainable development and the role that scientists can play to address them. This means that I consider the work I do with A4E and combating climate change as a part of my astronomy career. Specifically, this translates to an educational program that we are setting up for young children called Pale Blue Dot. In this project, we use the awe-inspiring images of Earth as seen from space to teach children across the globe about the interconnectedness of our home planet and the need to work together in solidarity to protect it. Astronomy can offer a very powerful perspective on the uniqueness of the Earth and its climate which can be used in education and science communication to engage people everywhere in the fight against climate change.

Willebrands explores a local waterway, trimming the sails and steering the rudder in a wooden sailboat.

How can the astronomical community engage with the climate crisis movement?
As scientists, astronomers understand the science behind climate change and the urgency to act now. The astronomical community, like any scientific community, can be a role model in handling the climate crisis by changing their own behaviors on one hand and by engaging with the public to talk about climate change on the other. Astronomy is a field of research that has a relatively high footprint, so the astronomical community needs to reflect on the way that research is being done and adapt its practices to be more environmentally sustainable. I believe that this is our responsibility as scientists, but it is also simply necessary to make the field future-proof. Secondly, astronomers can (and should!) use the cosmic perspective on Earth to communicate and educate about the climate crisis. The sense of wonder about our vast Universe and the place of our home within it can unite people and instill a strong incentive to act against the climate crisis.

If you weren’t in the field of astronomy, what would you be doing?
My interests are very wide, so life could have taken me in a lot of different directions! I would love to work with my hands more, making furniture or blowing glass for example, or to take the circus sport I do as a hobby to a professional level. But I suppose I will always have a weak spot for sciences and STEAM fields, and working as a biologist or geologist also sounds terribly interesting. I am happy doing what I do but the world has a lot of amazing things to offer.

Do you have any advice for future astronomers who might also be interested in addressing the climate crisis?
My advice would be to realize that we can all do something and play our part. Whether you simply talk about it with your friends, incorporate climate change into classes for your students, or raise the topic with the governance of your institute, it is all worthwhile. And most importantly, keep focusing on the positive changes we can make, it can be overwhelming to try and create change. And anyone who is looking for advice or support is of course welcome to join A4E and strengthen the movement!

Astronomers for Planet Earth: Gina Maffey

This feature is part of our ongoing series about the amazing women at Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E), a global network of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts dedicated to offering their unique perspective to the fight for climate justice. For this post, we'll hear from Dr. Gina Maffey, an interdisciplinary science communicator and founder of the Wildeor Foundation.

If you're interested in learning more about A4E's work combating global climate change and want to get involved, join them here at: https://astronomersforplanet.earth/join-us-1. And be sure to check out A4E's white paper on what astronomers (like you!) can do to address the climate crisis: Astronomers for Planet Earth: Engaging with the Public to Forge a Sustainable Future.

Dr. Gina Maffey is an experienced science communicator and interdisciplinary scientist with a guiding passion for the natural world. 

What is your current career and how did you end up there?

I currently sit as the chair of the Wildeor Foundation—a charity with the aim of Bringing Nature Back to Life. It’s been a very windy road getting here, but the path has never veered too far from environmental topics. Academically, I started in the UK with a BSc in Zoology, Masters in Ecology and Environmental Sustainability and a PhD in Environmental Science. However, during this time I also built up a portfolio of experience in science communication, including a British Science Association Media Fellowship. I began to wonder whether moving to another discipline would offer an opportunity to really understand and improve my science communication skill set. After working in South America for two years in environmental communication I accepted a part-time post in the Netherlands at the Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIVE)—a European Radio Astronomy Institute—where I was introduced to a whole new universe of concepts, ideas and terminology. Throughout my time at JIVE I maintained a strong connection with the natural world, also working with conservation and outdoor skills organizations - and even spending a year living outside in some of the wonderful natural areas that the Netherlands has to offer. I was inspired by many of the conversations that I had with the astronomy community and a small group of us came together to establish the Wildeor Foundation, where we are keen to explore cross-disciplinary approaches to nature connection in everyday life.

What is your role in Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E)?
I am one of the co-founders of the European arm of A4E. This began in 2019 at the European Astronomical Society conference in Lyon—what started as a conversation with one astronomer on climate change quickly snowballed into our first official meeting by the end of the week. As we were establishing ourselves we came across the newly formed Astronomers for Planet Earth in the US; at this point, we met online and joined forces to form an international group—after all, there is only one planet we are fighting for! I continue to be actively involved in many different aspects of A4E, and currently this is focused on much of the background framework to ensure the long term sustainability of the movement.

What goals do you have for your role in A4E?
I really want to work towards astronomers having a key voice in the environmental movement. I continue to be inspired by the dedication and depth that astronomers engage with the climate crisis, you (astronomers) speak the language of data and you can see that data as part of a much greater and complex picture. The climate crisis may be our global society’s most pressing problem, but it sits alongside a plethora of environmental issues that require as many voices as possible to collectively shout that something needs to be done, now.

Dr. Maffey observes the delicate beauty of an elephant hawk moth.

Describe the first time you made a personal connection between your passion for astronomy and the urgency of fighting climate change.
For me, this sits the other way round. My passion for environmental issues has never waned, and engaging with the astronomy sector has only stimulated me further. To pin an actual moment in time is difficult, but the greatest catalyst was undoubtedly meeting the wonderful group of people at the 2019 European Astronomical Society in Lyon. Many of these individuals have become friends through the A4E movement and that social interaction in turn serves as an incredible motivator.

How does your career in astronomy intersect with the fight against climate change?
It has steered my career in ways that I could never have anticipated. I have been lucky enough to present and write about astronomy and climate change, which forces me to review and reflect on my own thinking and I am continually challenged by the discussions that occur through A4E. Above all though, it is influencing how the Wildeor Foundation is growing. It is now less an intersection and more a parallel, conjoined path.

How can the astronomical community engage with the climate crisis movement?
By understanding how environmental change will affect the conduct of astronomy. It is somewhat misleading to think of environmental topics under a disciplinary label. The environment should form the foundation of each action and decision that we take— what will the long term impact be? What is the true economic cost? Who will be affected by the decisions that we make now? Asking these kinds of questions embeds astronomy in both (local and global) social and environmental frameworks. It also demonstrates that there is a lot of room for change, and that, at the very least, astronomers have the power to make those changes in their own field.

If you weren’t in the field of astronomy, what would you be doing?
Investment banking.

No, I jest. I still think of myself as an outsider in astronomy, just as I do in ecology, environmental science and science communication. For me, the labels mean little, but my interest for nature runs deep. I know that wherever I was, even in investment banking, I would be fighting on behalf of the natural world.

Do you have any advice for future astronomers who might also be interested in addressing the climate crisis?
Join Astronomers for Planet Earth.
Start asking questions and challenge the status quo.
Finally, don’t be intimidated, there is an overwhelming amount of data on climate change, there are climate scientists, climate communicators, climate policy officers… the list goes on. It is impossible to read and know everything, the unifying factor is that those in the field trust what the data is telling them and understand that change has to happen now. The best thing you can do is support them and amplify their message.

Astronomers for Planet Earth: Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez

This feature is part of our ongoing series about the amazing women at Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E), a global network of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts dedicated to offering their unique perspective to the fight for climate justice. For this post, we'll hear from Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez, a postdoc at the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie.

If you're interested in learning more about A4E's work combating global climate change and want to get involved, join them here at: https://astronomersforplanet.earth/join-us-1. And be sure to check out A4E's white paper on what astronomers (like you!) can do to address the climate crisis: Astronomers for Planet Earth: Engaging with the Public to Forge a Sustainable Future.

Dr. Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez is a postdoctoral researcher working on the Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU)  in Toulouse, France.  

What is your current career and how did you end up there?
I’m a postdoctoral researcher in astrophysics at the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie in Toulouse, France. On paper I look like I’ve had a really straight and narrow path to research, but in reality there have been a lot of wiggles and potential zig-zags. The simplest answer is that I’ve been drawn to space and astronomy since I was little, and decided when I was 13 or so that I’d pursue the subject as a career. In college, as an astronomy and physics major, I learned about the sub-field of astronomical instrumentation, which blended two of my drivers: the creativity required to design and build novel instruments, and the wonder of asking and answering scientific questions about the universe. I went to a PhD program where I could work at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on X-ray detectors that are designed to fly on satellites and observe objects like black holes and clusters of galaxies. Along the way, through other activities within the group, I also entered the field of laboratory astrophysics, which in my case, meant I was working in laboratories to recreate processes and plasmas that occur in space. My goal was to understand the atomic physics behind the X-ray spectra we measured, and to try to input this into astrophysical models to make them more accurate. When I was finishing up my PhD, I had a dream to move to California or France; it was just my luck that collaborators in Toulouse needed someone with my expertise, so I came here for a postdoc.

What is your role in Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E)?
I’d been on the lookout for a while for some way of getting more directly involved in the fight against the climate crisis, even including considering a career change. So when I came across A4E last summer, I was excited to dig into specific activities. I eventually found a channel in the Slack workspace for a project that looked interesting and got involved there. This eventually turned into becoming the lead organizer for our open letter (https://astronomersforplanet.earth/open-letter). I’ve also now joined the “operations” group, which is a smaller subset of active members that discusses the more programmatic and organizational aspects of A4E, such as the future of our organization, how to enable accepting donations, etc.

What goals do you have for your role in A4E?
I’d love to see our open letter spark long-lasting conversations at research institutions and astronomical societies around the world about what we can do to minimize our carbon impact. And beyond just conversations, I hope it encourages places to act and incorporate policies prioritizing sustainability for their travel reimbursement schemes, infrastructure, and so on. I’d also love to see A4E expand into a full-fledged nonprofit organization, and help this happen however I can. A big personal goal is to learn more from other members! So many A4E members are goldmines of information, and there is so much collective knowledge shared through webinars, posted articles and blog posts, and conversations on the Slack space.

Describe the first time you made a personal connection between your passion for astronomy and the urgency of fighting climate change.
Astronomy and nature were two of my earliest loves, though environmental action was always a hobby or way of life for me, and I chose to pursue astronomy as a profession. But something shifted as I was finishing up my PhD. My work felt really esoteric and disconnected from the urgent needs of our planet and society, and I started to feel like I wanted to pivot my career to address the climate crisis. I did a lot of soul searching and talked to a lot of people in climate science, climate solutions, and science policy. In the end I decided to stay in astrophysics research for a bit longer, but committed to finding a way to use my time and skills on both.

How does your career in astronomy intersect with the fight against climate change?
There are a few ways I’ve brought the two topics together. One thing I really enjoy doing is outreach talks. When talking about exoplanets, or possible life on other worlds, it’s simple to loop in information about the Earth, its uniqueness, and its fragility. Often students will ask me what my favorite planet is, and always seem surprised when I tell them it’s Earth! Next, as part of the A4E open letter process, we are seeking institutional endorsements to the letter, and I was able to get the letter approved by the environmental committee at my institute (of which I am a part), and then finally by the lab council. But in the day to day activities of my work, it can be simple things like recycling materials rather than throwing them out, or being careful about how I book my travel.

How can the astronomical community engage with the climate crisis movement?
I think an important thing for astronomers to bring is our perspective and our tools. This is one of the key tenets of A4E, actually. We regularly think about a much larger picture, and we are acutely aware of how vast the universe is and how rare places like Earth are. We’re also in a great position to talk about the climate crisis to others: astronomers are trusted in society (I can dig up the reference for this later if needed), if we talk about the climate crisis, it won’t seem like we’re just trying to advance our own careers, and many astronomers also teach large university classes, providing a wide and diverse audience. Travis Rector, an A4E co-founder, has a great blog post about it these aspects here: https://aas.org/posts/news/2021/03/why-and-how-astronomers-should-teach-climate-change. Besides engaging with the public on climate, we can also look inward and work within our research groups and institutions on sustainability initiatives, like putting into place travel policies that restrict carbon emissions, or employing data storage or computing practices that use less energy. There are all sorts of ways for everyone to get involved, at many different scales. I think the main thing is to decide what aspects of the climate crisis are most interesting to you, and thinking about how you see yourself fitting into this puzzle. This can look like engaging through a sustainability committee at your institute, organizing an event, writing a blog post, supporting and uplifting others that you see doing work you admire, and so on.

If you weren’t in the field of astronomy, what would you be doing?
Um...owning and operating a vineyard for natural wine in the south of France? Or maybe that’s for later :) More seriously (cough cough), I’ve been drawn to science policy for awhile, and there are some very cool nonprofits out there that are doing great work in climate, either supporting research or influencing policy, and also diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM, which is another topic very close to my heart. My postdoc position is over soon, so we’ll see where things take me next!

Dr. Betancourt-Martinez enjoys a sunny day on the slopes building an adorable snowman.

Do you have any advice for future astronomers who might also be interested in addressing the climate crisis?
We need all hands on deck right now; find your niche in the movement and join us! Working as a group will be a lot more effective than as individuals, so find like-minded people to amplify your message and actions.

Astronomers for Planet Earth: Jessica Merritt Agnos

This feature is part of our ongoing series about the amazing women at Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E), a global network of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts dedicated to offering their unique perspective to the fight for climate justice. For this post, we'll hear from Jessica Merritt Agnos, a graduate student studying astrophysics at San Francisco State University (SFSU) with a background in communications and film production. 

If you're interested in learning more about A4E's work combating global climate change and want to get involved, join them here at: https://astronomersforplanet.earth/join-us-1. And be sure to check out A4E's white paper on what astronomers (like you!) can do to address the climate crisis: Astronomers for Planet Earth: Engaging with the Public to Forge a Sustainable Future.

Jessica Merritt Agnos, mother, science communicator, and co-founder of Astronomers for Planet Earth, is pictured here holding one of her children who is already enthusiastic about space. 

What is your current career and how did you end up there?

I'm an astrophysics graduate student at San Francisco State University. My undergrad degree is in Communications (TV/Film Production). I'm from New Orleans and lived in New York City for a while - having many different jobs that never truly fulfilled me. Upon moving to San Francisco, I had the opportunity to return to school when my son was born and realized astrophysics was a passion I could no longer deny.

What is your role in Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E)?
I'm a cofounder and tend to have some level of involvement in most things that happen on a large scale. Because of my previous work experience, I’m involved in video production, and I try to get everyone on board with the ideas of marketing and branding so we can be effective in getting our message out. My husband and I spearheaded the logo design. He edits most of the videos and wrote several of the ones that have been produced so far. It’s a family affair in my household! I also have a good amount of public speaking experience, so I participate in conferences and (pre-Covid) hosted/mc'd events at SFSU for A4E.

What goals do you have for your role in A4E?
Right now, many of us are busy with operations and planning, trying to set up a long-term structure. This organization is very grassroots and has grown far more quickly than we ever imagined, all on a volunteer basis. As a student and mother of three, I have very limited bandwidth, so my hope is once a structure is in place, my focus can be back on video production. I want to do more video portraits of our members (like this) and really hear from our wider community. One thing that is off-putting about academia in general is the circular back scratching that occurs, which eliminates a lot of voices that should be heard. I want to tell the stories of our student members, our members in parts of the world that don't get showcased the way they should, our members who are out in their communities doing the work - maybe not the head of an institution, but a volunteer or community organizer. Climate change is already affecting people, mostly communities who have been traditionally exploited and are on the front lines. Those voices need to be elevated; their actions highlighted. I've been kicking around the idea of a podcast with a similar theme which could allow for branching out beyond the astronomical community and having interdisciplinary discussions. I keep my eye on a lot of amazing activists with whom I would LOVE to speak. Climate work requires all hands on deck and people working with one another from all backgrounds and locations. I want to do my part in making connections. We need to do a better job at showcasing the intersectionality of the climate crisis, so whatever I do in the future will be focused on that.

Describe the first time you made a personal connection between your passion for astronomy and the urgency of fighting climate change.
I worked as a presenter in the Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences, where the institution made sustainability their top priority. All of the planetarium shows had a sustainability aspect to them, and it was an obvious connection. They made a planetarium movie about coral reefs and ocean acidification that won many awards globally. It opened discussions about plastic pollution and food choices. Another interactive we did was "Living Beyond Earth" where we talked about the resources needed for the International Space Station, for a moon base, and for the trip to Mars. We really got the audience thinking about how carefully resources need to be managed to sustain life. Then we put the focus on "Spaceship Earth", and you could see the light bulbs going off in the minds of the audience members! It was so powerful. In my "Tour of the Universe" script, in which we traveled through the observable universe, I read Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" at the end as we were coming back home to Earth. I added that after the Charlottesville riots, being so heartbroken and disturbed by those events. As a woman of Central American heritage and a mother of a biracial young woman, I felt a need to give my audiences a message of unity and show how much we depend on one another for survival. In my opinion, it's not been said better than "Pale Blue Dot", so it became a staple.

These experiences were my inspiration in helping found A4E. The Cal Academy was already doing it, and it seemed to me that more astronomers should be doing the same. All the credit goes to the Morrison team for having such amazing shows.

How does your career in astronomy intersect with the fight against climate change?
Going back to the Morrison Planetarium - I watched kids' and adults' minds expand while giving them messages of sustainability through the lens of the astronomical perspective. When you have the tools of a planetarium to show these obvious connections, it's very powerful. It was easy to show (as I would state in my shows) " we are not separate from 'out there', we are actually 'out there' !" Observing how impactful that was to an audience made me want to bring that message to as many people as I could.

This inspired the sustainability panel at the ASP conference that launched A4E. Dr. Adrienne Cool (associate physics chair at SFSU) and I met with ASP over the summer of 2019 because they were holding their annual conference on our campus that fall. We had a conversation about this topic being of utmost importance. Over the course of planning and bringing more voices in, A4E was born. This organization is in the fabric of the department I'm in. It's in the mindset of our students and faculty. It's not just an intersection, it's woven into who we are. Even the dean of our college has invited me to talk about A4E. I feel very lucky to be in such a mindful academic environment.

How can the astronomical community engage with the climate crisis movement?
We should be making large-scale connections every chance we get. Carl Sagan did this so masterfully, and we need to carry his torch. We are life birthed from the stars. We are all interconnected. We are all in this together. Astronomers have a beautiful perspective; we need to share it and showcase the uniqueness of our home.

It's worrisome to me when I hear others get pushback for their sustainability efforts at their institutions. It blows my mind that anyone in the astronomical community would not be putting the sustainability of our planet at the forefront considering no one knows better than astronomers how special this planet is.

Working in the planetarium really impacted me, because I saw from our museum guests almost everyone loves astronomy. It's who we are as humans - literally and figuratively. We owe civilization to the fact that we were able to discern patterns from the sky. How special is that? Astronomers are such incredible ambassadors. We need to be talking about this and sharing the awe and wonder of what we do and what we know.

(I'd like to shout-out Wendy Crumrine, another A4E founding member from SFSU who is on her way to USC for a PhD in cosmology. She has an undergrad in psychology and has developed curriculum for children that uses astronomy to develop empathy. It's amazing. My son participated in her "Wonder Hour" workshop, and he loved it. She's a treasure and a wonderful example of an astronomer doing engaging climate work.)

If you weren’t in the field of astronomy, what would you be doing?
I've done a lot of different things, enough to know astronomy really makes me happy. If I wasn't doing this specifically, I'd probably be in renewable energy. I'm also very interested in nutritional science, so maybe that, too. Many of my professors joke with me that I've never met a subject I didn't like, so who knows. I'm fascinated with existence. Physics and astronomy are the building blocks of that, so that's why it captivates me. But I love seeing how it all came together to make us. We're literally sun scraps, and yet we have the ability to know that about ourselves and communicate it. That's amazing.

Do you have any advice for future astronomers who might also be interested in addressing the climate crisis?
Climate change is already affecting everyone in various ways and will only get worse if action isn't taken now. No profession will be able to avoid talking about it in the future. It's something everyone, including astronomers, need to be thinking and talking about, and actively playing a role in the solutions. The most important thing for anyone to do is to talk about it so it becomes obvious to the powers that be that they MUST incorporate climate action into their policies and business plans. The field of astronomy will be affected by changes in the atmosphere and severe weather. We can't insulate ourselves. With the long preamble, my advice is be mindful, be vocal, live your values, and speak up every chance you get. You won't be alone. Join us, and let's elevate each other's voices so that changes happen!

Astronomers for Planet Earth: Imani Mairae Ware

This feature is part of our ongoing series about the amazing women at Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E),  a global network of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts dedicated to offering their unique perspective to the fight for climate justice. For this post, we'll hear from Imani Mairae Ware, an undergraduate student studying astrophysics at San Francisco State University (SFSU).

If you're interested in learning more about A4E's work combating global climate change and want to get involved, join them here at: https://astronomersforplanet.earth/join-us-1. And be sure to check out A4E's white paper on what astronomers (like you!) can do to address the climate crisis: Astronomers for Planet Earth: Engaging with the Public to Forge a Sustainable Future. 

Imani Mairae Ware is an undergraduate at SFSU and the co-founder of Astronomers for Planet Earth 

What is your current career and how did you end up there?
Right now, I am attending San Francisco State University to study astrophysics for my Bachelor’s degree. I decided to study astrophysics after taking a couple of physics classes in high school with my amazing and inspiring teacher, William Lemei. Our class watched a TEDx talk by astrophysicist Dr. Alex Fillipenko about his dark energy discoveries and after that, I knew I wanted to study astrophysics. Although I love studying the sky and the physics of the universe, I also love to build structures and design real-world systems, like an engineer. So to get the best of both worlds, I planned to study astrophysics to get a more fundamental understanding of aerospace engineering to take to an industry job. Little did I know that astrophysics was more than a fundamental understanding of aerospace, but an in-depth analysis of physical and theoretical micro and macro systems. I’m so happy I chose this route because I now know more about this world and the universe than I could have ever imagined back in high school.

What is your role in Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E)?
I am one of the original members and co-founders of Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E). While President of the Women in Physics and Astronomy Club, I helped organize A4E’s official debut panel session at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s 131st conference hosted at San Francisco State University in 2019. From there the co-founders and I worked on recruiting other astronomers passionate about climate activism and setting the foundation for this blossoming organization. As the word spread, we joined forces with a Europe-based group of astronomers focused on climate change, and from there we have coordinated social media content, membership events, conference talks, and calls to action for observatories around the world. As an undergraduate student taking online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven’t been as active as I wanted to, but have contributed in any way I can. My next step is to focus on administrative structures to help streamline the onboarding process of new members.

What goals do you have for your role in A4E?
Since a large portion of my time in A4E has been setting up a structure and foundation to make operations easier in the future, the activism side of our mission has been slow to start. One of my goals is to initiate events and meetings to focus on implementing action-based movements. Most companies and organizations that flaunt their eco-friendly initiatives are all talk, no action. I do not want A4E to become one of those organizations and intend to push for more front-line climate activism. I also want to involve more youth and underrepresented groups in the organization to diversify the voices we include in the climate conversation. Since I am still one of a handful of undergraduate students active in A4E, I want to facilitate outreach events to bring more youth activists into A4E and foster a safe space for open discussion. Astronomy is for everyone and everyone is affected by climate change. Anyone who values both astronomy and climate change, regardless of age and background, should have their voices heard in A4E.

Mid-hike at Zion National Park, Imani Mairae Ware takes a moment to appreciate the beauty of the sandstone cliffs.

Describe the first time you made a personal connection between your passion for astronomy and the urgency of fighting climate change.
I don’t really have a specific moment when I made the connection, but after learning that traveling to other planets outside of our solar system is still science fiction, I knew we need to take care of Planet Earth since it’s the only one we have. There really is no Planet B. Most of the other planets and moons in our solar system are currently uninhabitable and will take decades before any colony could be established on those with promising terrain. Of course, interstellar travel is a future possibility, but right now, that technology doesn’t exist. That is why we must take care of our planet and mitigate anthropogenic climate change so we can eventually build the interstellar technology of sci-fi fantasies. We only have a couple of decades to even get close to righting the wrongs we’ve inflicted on this planet. After realizing that the climate change problem is more urgent than interstellar space travel, I decided that the astronomical perspective on climate change could help bring humanity’s focus back from the fantasies of the stars to the realities of the earth.

How does your career in astronomy intersect with the fight against climate change?
Astronomy and fighting climate change are not often connected, but since they are both passions of mine, I made sure to bring these two worlds together. One connection I can think of is that effectively observing space from the ground requires good atmospheric conditions, but as climate change makes the atmosphere less predictable, astronomers must advocate for the planet like we advocate for space science.

How can the astronomical community engage with the climate crisis movement?
Since astronomers have a unique perspective on the climate crisis, we should first create and share educational tools to provide cosmological context to our global problem while presenting effective, concrete solutions. The most effective space astronomers have to share this information is in the classroom and academic community. But since the love for stars and space is not limited to members of academia, astronomers also have the ability to inspire and include everyone into the conversation through the wonderfully curious lens of astronomy.

If you weren’t in the field of astronomy, what would you be doing?
If I weren’t in astrophysics, I would probably be studying aerospace engineering at another university since SFSU doesn’t have aerospace engineering. I would still be volunteering as a climate activist, regardless of my career path, since climate change is everyone’s problem to solve.

In her free time, Imani enjoys snowboarding on the slopes in Pinecrest, CA

Do you have any advice for future astronomers who might also be interested in addressing the climate crisis?
Check out the resources and information pages on the A4E website, join A4E, explore our slack space to connect with other members, and continue to apply climate solutions as often as you can! You are not alone in this fight!

Crosspost: An Observatory Spied on LA's Carbon Emissions—From Space

Written By Katrina Miller

Eldering's team created this video showing the aggregation of different "swaths" or strips of data from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-3) taken over metropolitan Los Angeles

While most people might be attracted by the perpetually sunny skies, nearby ocean, or mountains hugging the Los Angeles basin, environmental engineer Annmarie Eldering was drawn to the city’s smog. “It’s the best place to go,” she says. “You’ve got tons of pollution!”

Urban areas release over 70 percent of human-made carbon dioxide emissions that wind up in the atmosphere, and LA is no exception. With over 13 million residents in its larger metropolitan area, a sophisticated network of freeways, and an international transportation hub, LA produces the fifth-most CO2 of all the cities in the world. That makes it a sweet spot for studying the role humans play in climate change.

Eldering is the project scientist for NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3, or OCO-3, an instrument that measures atmospheric CO2 levels from space to better understand the impact of human activity on the natural carbon cycle, the process by which plants, soil, oceans, and the atmosphere exchange carbon with each other. In a paper published this month, Eldering and her colleagues released a map showing the most detailed variations of CO2 emissions over the LA basin ever seen from space. This research demonstrates that space-based monitors can be used to collect large swaths of data over pollution hot spots, information that could help inform policy to combat climate change.

“What’s exciting about the OCO-3 result is that this is the first time we’ve gotten this kind of area map over a city like LA from space,” says Joshua Laughner, a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech who works on a global ground-based monitoring system called the Total Carbon Column Observing Network.

Read the rest of the article, written by the Women in Astronomy blog team's very own, Katrina Miller, here:
https://www.wired.com/story/an-observatory-spied-on-las-carbon-emissions-from-space/

Open Letter from Astronomers for Planet Earth

Astronomers for Planet Earth is a volunteer network that invites scientists, educators, and astronomy students to join in the effort against climate change and for climate justice. With more than 1000 members, this international organization of astronomers recently penned an open letter, published on Earth Day, in hopes of mobilizing support and building community around the common goal of sustainability. Below is an excerpt of the open letter.    

An Open Letter to Astronomy Departments, Institutions and Societies: Adopt Sustainability as a Primary Goal 

We, astronomers, astrophysicists, and global citizens, recognize the urgency of the climate crisis and our impact on it. We also recognize that we have the power to change our current practices. We call on astronomical institutions worldwide to set an example for the field in mitigating our contribution to climate change: naming sustainability as a primary goal, putting in place specific sustainable practices to lower carbon emissions, and clearly communicating these changes both to their own members and the general public. 

Comprehensive scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that we are living in a climate emergency that calls for urgent action. Both the Paris agreement and the 2020 United Nations Emissions Gap Report outline the imperative to halt global heating and ocean acidification. Only through immediately effecting a significant and continuous reduction in global emissions can we achieve this goal. Without doing so, we will face both a biodiversity crisis through mass extinctions, and a humanitarian crisis from increasingly inhospitable living conditions. At our current rate of emissions--even despite the Covid pandemic--we are failing to prevent this disaster. 

Read the full open letter and sign: https://astronomersforplanet.earth/open-letter-full-text

Learn more about Astronomers for Planet Earth: https://astronomersforplanet.earth/about-us

CSWA Special Session at the AAS: Family Leave Policies

At the 221st AAS meeting at Long Beach, CA, the CSWA sponsored a special session entitled, "Family Leave Policies and Childcare for Graduate Students and Postdocs." The principal organizers were CSWA members Dave Charbonneau and Laura Trouille.

Slides from the presentations by Dave Charbonneau, Natalie Gosnell, Bob Mathieu, Edward Ajhar, and Charles Beichman are now posted as PDFs at http://www.aas.org/cswa/jan13.html.

Charbonneau's presentation included a report of preliminary results from the CSWA's national survey of department chairs on this topic. Gosnell and Mathieu reported on implementation of a forward-looking policy at UW-Madison. Ajhar reported on the NSF's work-life balance initiative, and Beichman described NASA's fellowship programs and their parental leave policies. Laura Trouille briefly presented preliminary results from the postdoc family leave survey. These results are also posted at the website listed above.

If you couldn't attend the session, take a look at the slides for a snapshot of the current state of this issue, which is critical for 21st century careers in astronomy.

If you'd like to voice your support for improving family leave policies for our community, please consider signing http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/aaron-geller/petition. As of this post, the petition has over 1100 signatures. 

Anonymous Guest-Post: One Small Step

Anonymous guest-post by a mid-career scientist at a large public university. 

As a mid-career scientist at a large public university, I find myself increasingly frustrated with policies and procedures with which I disagree but feel powerless to do anything about. However, recently, I found myself in a position to strike a (teeny, tiny) blow for change -- and I took it.

My academic department has had a very traditional approach to hiring in my 17 years here. We hire in very specific sub-fields, the argument being that we need to reach 'critical mass' in each research group. (I should add I'm in a physics department of about 25, with a few astronomers, of which I am one). The hiring committee is thus invariably chaired by someone in the sub-field in which we are hiring, with two or three others on the committee who are preferably in the same subfield or hopefully a related one. The committee looks over applicant files and presents a ranked list to the department, which rubber-stamps it.  We have had no formal evaluation criteria, but the most important factor is the candidate's research record. Almost nothing else matters. As far as I can tell, the chair's opinion is therefore the one that matters to the committee, and to the department, as the chair is thought to be most knowledgeable about the research area. This means that essentially one person (the committee chair) is choosing the candidate -- again, as far as I can tell.

If one looks at any of the recent research on how to increase faculty excellence and diversity in academia (for example, see http://www.aas.org/cswa/jan12.html), this is described as the worst possible way to hire. I know this, but have had no say in the process in the past.  Because I was the last astronomer hired (17 years ago), I have never been on a hiring committee. Until now. We have a job opening for a physicist in a specific subfield. Because the university wants at least one minority on hiring committees, and since the other female faculty member in our department (who generally has filled that role on other hiring committees because she works in physics rather than astronomy) was unable to be on the committee, I was appointed.

In the past few weeks, as the job ad went out, I have been wondering how to spark a change in our usual deparmental hiring practices. I have the advantage of knowing that our Dean's office has become aware of best practices and is slowly trying to implement them across the College: we have an NSF ADVANCE grant to improve the recruitment and retention of women faculty in STEM. So I feel that I have administrative back-up if necessary, which is comforting.

This week, we were notified that the applicant files were ready. The chair of the hiring committee, Dr. X, sent an email to the committee saying that the applicants' files were in the main office and we should read them, then meet to form our short list. I took a deep breath, and sent a reply saying that I was uncomfortable with this process, and that we should meet BEFORE looking over the files to come up with evaluation criteria that we would all use. Then all files that meet the criteria are put on a 'long short list' -- these people get a short phone interview, from which we then compile a final short list. I stated I would not participate unless we followed this procedure. I attached a copy of the UMich candidate evaluation form (that I have sent to the department in previous years but to no avail), with the note that this was what the Dean's office is suggesting that departments use (which is true).

This felt like a very brave move to me. I was sure Dr. X wouldn't understand why I wanted to do this, and would think I was creating extra work and slowing down the process (moving too slowly has cost us positions in the past). I did figure they couldn't throw me off the committee because I was the only minority though! ;) I fully expected some kind of confrontation (Dr. X can be impatient...) and push-back.

Instead, Dr. X replied to the committee that I had a good point and we should meet as soon as possible to set criteria before looking at the files! My jaw dropped. And I was immensely heartened. Maybe change IS possible! Maybe things CAN get better! Maybe I CAN make a difference!

In some ways this seems like a small thing -- one hiring committee for one position in one department -- but it feels like a turning point. It's been one for me, anyway.

I feel empowered.

Why Men Fail

Posted by Joan Schmelz in this week's AASWomen Newsletter.

Below is an excerpt of interest from David Brooks' opinion piece in the NYTimes about the traits needed for professional success and how they may be changing from "favoring" men to "favoring" women.

<<Men still dominate the tippy-top of the corporate ladder because many women take time off to raise children, but women lead or are gaining nearly everywhere else. Women in their 20s outearn men in their 20s. Twelve out of the 15 fastest-growing professions are dominated by women.

Over the years, many of us have embraced a certain theory to explain men’s economic decline. It is that the information-age economy rewards traits that, for neurological and cultural reasons, women are more likely to possess. 

But, in her fascinating new book, “The End of Men,” Hanna Rosin posits a different theory. It has to do with adaptability. Women, Rosin argues, are like immigrants who have moved to a new country. They see a new social context, and they flexibly adapt to new circumstances. Men are like immigrants who have physically moved to a new country but who have kept their minds in the old one. They speak the old language. They follow the old mores. Men are more likely to be rigid; women are more fluid. 

This theory has less to do with innate traits and more to do with social position. When there’s big social change, the people who were on the top of the old order are bound to cling to the old ways. The people who were on the bottom are bound to experience a burst of energy. They’re going to explore their new surroundings more enthusiastically.>>

To read more, please see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/brooks-why-men-fail.html?emc=eta1

Guest-post by John Johnson: Zen and the Art of Astronomy Research

Guest-post by John Johnson, professor of Astronomy in the Caltech Department of Astrophysics. His research is on the detection and characterization of exoplanets. This post is a re-post from astrobites. With the start of a new academic year, his career-life advice seemed particularly timely and useful. Read on!

I had the pleasure of visiting the Harvard Center for Astrophysics back in February when I stopped through to give a colloquium. One of the CfA traditions is for the graduate students to treat the speaker to lunch. So on the day of my talk I hung out in a classroom with about two dozen graduate students where we munched on pizza and talked about everything from the difficulty of measuring stellar radial velocities at 1 m/s precision, to advice about applying for postdoctoral fellowships, to what it’s like to be a professor.

Near the end of our conversation one of the students asked me if I had any career advice for them. I’m sure this is a common if not boiler-plate question to ask speakers, so I thought carefully about what advice they likely haven’t heard before. Rather than talking about how many papers they should publish in order to get a named fellowship, or what fields of research are hotter than others, I decided to focus on a topic that I’ve found extremely important in my professional life lately: mental health.

Most people find the topic of mental health a bit unsettling, so I made sure to qualify what I meant by the term. I wasn’t insinuating that anyone in the room was crazy or mentally unstable. And I wasn’t trying to get all squishy with my audience by talking about warm fuzzies, or fuzzies of any  for that matter. But in the same way that it’s important for you to take care of your lower back by lifting with your legs, it’s important to take care of your mental state while you tackle the rigors of science. After all, you can in principle reduce your data with a bad back. However, if you’re not thinking clearly, or if you are perpetually unhappy with your lot in life, your astronomy research will certainly suffer.

I can’t remember all of the specific advice I gave to the Harvard astro-grads because it wasn’t really planned. So I hope the good folks who run Astrobites won’t mind if I riff once again. Here’s my advice about keeping things in order upstairs:

1) For most of us, if we were to wake up five mornings in a row with excruciating pain in our right arm, we’d probably go see a doctor and get it checked out. So why is it that we don’t get our minds checked out if we, say, wake up five mornings in a row feeling stressed, burned-out, or otherwise unhappy?

The field of astronomy comprises extremely smart, technically-gifted people who could easily have made very comfortable salaries after they graduated with their B.S. degrees. Yet astronomy grad students spend their days in cramped offices working 10 to 14 hour days for annual salaries that place them squarely below the poverty line. My point is that we’re not doing astronomy for the money. Most of us are in this field because we find it inspiring, exciting and…fun. Right? Isn’t that why were here? Yet, sadly, some graduate students spend a lot of their time being stressed-out and unhappy. I know my time in grad school certainly wasn’t all roses and publications.

All of this is to say that if your arm hurts you should see a doctor. If you’re unhappy, you need talk to someone. Your university has a counseling center set up just for this type of thing. They know how to help and they’ll keep it confidential. Seeking help for your mental state isn’t being weak or an indication that something is fundamentally wrong with you. This is 2011, after all, not 1950. Go get a checkup if you need it.

2) Spend a small part of your week pondering the Universe. I just wrote about how grad students are paid relatively little given their talent and expertise. The flip side of that is you all have pretty sweet jobs. It’s your job to figure out how the Universe works. So focus solely on this part of your job for at least one hour a week away from any distractions, and away from your day-to-day grind. In so doing you’ll simultaneously keep your mind limber and strong, while keeping yourself from burning out on seemingly menial tasks like tracking down that bug in your spectrum-fitting code.

Perhaps someone once mentioned that the reddest subgiants in the Solar neighborhood give a lower limit of the age of the Galaxy, but you were busy with something else and couldn’t give the notion the reflection it deserves. Or after one of your recent research talks someone stumped you with a question that, while you were able to wiggle free of at the time, you really should have had a better answer for. Or maybe you can’t seem to remember whether it’s okay to use a preposition to end a sentence with. Make sure you have a small window of time in your week to give the matter some serious thought.

3) Identify something that poses a serious challenge for you and pick a fight with it. I’m being figurative, of course, so please don’t apply this advice to your challenging office mate. Instead, I’m talking about that topic in your field or aspect of your job that you don’t have a firm handle on just yet. Maybe you’re still uncomfortable giving talks, or you’re not satisfied with your writing style. Don’t shy away from these things. Spend some time reading books on that tough topic. Sign up to give an extra journal club talk. Write a guest post on Astrobites!

By continuously looking for ways to shore up your perceived weak points you’ll give yourself opportunities for small yet regular victories, all while adding variety to your work week. Remember, your time to learn didn’t end with your qual exam; it continues throughout your career.

4) Periodically make it a point to give someone effusive yet specific praise for a job well done. Did a postdoc in your dept recently give an outstanding research talk? Stop by their office and tell them that you really liked it, and be specific about what aspects of the talk worked for you. Did a classmate recently post a paper on astro-ph? Read their paper, stop them in the hallway and congratulate them on a job well done. Or how about this: we’ve all gotten one of those emails from someone congratulating us on our recent paper, and BTW they published on the topic last year and would appreciate a citation. Try sending one of those emails to someone, but without the last part requesting a citation. If nothing else, it’s a lot of fun imagining the look of confusion on the recipient’s face when they reach the end of your note.

Kind words, encouragement and praise are hard to come by in astronomy, but keep in mind that you’re not the only person who needs these things.

—————

This might sound like strange advice coming from a professor. Shouldn’t I be telling you about publishing or perishing? Shouldn’t I tell you to suck it up and pull an all-nighter again? Well, science is fundamentally a human pursuit and we do ourselves and the field a disservice by forgetting this simple fact. Unhappy graduate students tend to be sloppy, less productive researchers. Happy students, on the other hand, vigorously pursue interesting science questions, give outstanding talks and churn out well-written papers. Thus, as a professor, it’s in my best interest to work in a science field full of mentally-healthy students.

Parental Leave Wiki on AstroBetter

This week's guest blogger is Nick Murphy. Nick Murphy is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. His research is on solar physics, including the role of magnetic reconnection in solar eruptions. He is active in several community groups in the Boston area that are working for gender equity and racial justice. 

Last year, our colleagues at AstroBetter provided wiki space to catalog parental leave policies at astronomical institutions: 

http://www.astrobetter.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Leave+Policies

The goals of this wiki are: (1) to allow astronomers at different career stages to easily compare parental leave policies, and (2) to encourage institutions to enact better parental leave policies by showing how they compare with peer institutions.  

At this point there are postings for 23 institutions and fellowships in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. We encourage you to post information about your own institution if it is not included.  If your institution lacks a comprehensive parental leave policy or only has unpaid leave, it is important to post anyway so that prospective graduate students and employees know this and the administation can be encouraged to implement something better.  If your institution has a parental leave policy worth being proud of, post so that more people want to go there!  

We especially encourage institutions outside of the US to be included, in part to show how the US measures up internationally.  With your help, we can make this an even better resource for the members of our community who are applying to graduate school, postdocs, and permanent positions.

To read more about parental leave, see previous blog posts on the upcoming winter AAS CSWA Special Session on paid parental leave policies for grad students and postdocs in the U.S., a petition for improved parental leave policies, the CSWA response to the NSF Career-Life Initiative, and how US parental leave policies compare internationally.

Posted by L. Trouille

Posting of the Boston AAS Panel Discussion Video

In a previous post I provided a teaser of the information presented during our Boston AAS panel discussion on 'Transforming Cultural Norms: Mentoring and Networking Groups for Women and Minorities".

Thank you again to our panelists for their thoughtful responses. Our panelists were:

• Marcel Agueros -- astronomy faculty and Director of Columbia University's Bridge to PhD program in the Natural Sciences
• Ed Bertschinger -- Chair of the MIT Physics department and deeply involved in a number of mentoring, networking, and cultural change initiatives, member of the CSWA
• Kim Coble -- physics/astronomy faculty at Chicago State University, a minority serving institution in Chicago, deeply involved in mentoring and pipeline issues
• Meredith Danowski -- astronomy PhD student and co-founder of Boston University's women in STEM mentoring and networking program
• Jim Ulvestad -- NSF-AST director, head of astro2010 demographics study group, and former member of the CSWA

Below is the videotape we made of this special session (thank you BU graduate student!), split into 3 parts.

I strongly recommend viewing the higher quality version, posted here.

(This blog site only supports very small file sizes.)

-L. Trouille

Boston AAS: Panel Discussion on Transforming Cultural Norms...

Yesterday we held a panel discussion during the Boston AAS meeting entitled "Transforming Cultural Norms: Mentoring and Networking Groups for Women and Minorities". In order to more widely disseminate the ideas and resources shared during this discussion, I'm taking advantage of our blog conversations.

Thank you to all those who attended and contributed to the conversation. We were very pleased to see the mix of men and women in the audience, although there's definitely work to be done in engaging more senior men in these discussions.

In this first post, I'm providing our extended community the resources page distributed at the start of the disucssion. Please send me your comments for any additional resources that you'd like to see included. The final list will be published for posterity at the CSWA 'Resources' page.

My next post will provide the videotape we made of the discussion. As a teaser, I'll note that our discussion yesterday highlighted examples of concrete steps to take to enable sustainability, obstacles to be aware of, how to develop allies through making it clear the ways your program champions your institution's priorities, acknowledging the realities of needing to work within existing structures, and the limitations of our recent decadal survey with respect to accomplishing the goals of the 'State of the Profession' white papers.

Till that's posted, another big Thank You! to our panelists for their ongoing efforts to improve the culture and climate at their institutions and for their thoughtfulness in considering the questions we had composed prior to the session to help guide the discussion.

Our panelists were:

• Marcel Agueros -- astronomy faculty and Director of Columbia University's Bridge to PhD program in the Natural Sciences
• Ed Bertschinger -- Chair of the MIT Physics department and deeply involved in a number of mentoring, networking, and cultural change initiatives, member of the CSWA
• Kim Coble -- physics/astronomy faculty at Chicago State University, a minority serving institution in Chicago, deeply involved in mentoring and pipeline issues
• Meredith Danowski -- astronomy PhD student and co-founder of Boston University's women in STEM mentoring and networking program
• James Ulvestad -- NSF-AST director, head of astro2010 demographics study group, and former member of the CSWA

Keep in touch and tuned in to future blog posts containing additional resources and information with regards to this ongoing discussion.

MENTORING/CULTURAL CHANGE RESOURCES

Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA)

• To subscribe to the weekly CSWA newsletter - http://lists.aas.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aaswlis
• Website - http://www.aas.org/cswa/
• Blog - http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/
• STATUS semiannual publication - http://www.aas.org/cswa/STATUS.html
• Pasadena Recommendations - http://www.aas.org/cswa/pasadenarecs.html
• Articles, links, and other resources on the “two-body problem”, “work-life” balance, mentoring, sexual harassment, unconscious bias, and re-entering the work force after a career break - http://www.aas.org/cswa/resources.html
• Mentoring advice - http://www.aas.org/cswa/advice.html

Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA)

• Website - http://csma.aas.org/
• SPECTRUM biannual publication - http://csma.aas.org/spectrum.html
• Links to presentations from previous AAS sessions on mentoring - http://csma.aas.org/events.html
• Research on the benefits of diversity in higher education - http://csma.aas.org/issues.html
• Minority faculty recruitment, promotion, and tenure - http://csma.aas.org/issues.html
• Affirmative Action - http://csma.aas.org/issues.html

NSF ADVANCE grant program to recruit and retain women in STEM careers

• Website - http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383
• Portal to search for NSF ADVANCE websites relevant to your topic of interest - http://www.portal.advance.vt.edu/index.php/search

Miscellaneous

• NSF postdoctoral mentoring plan requirement - www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/Sample_Postdoc_Mentoring_Plan.doc
• National Postdoctoral Association, mentoring plan suggestions - http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/publications/mentoring-plans/mentoring-plan
• MIT Mentors & Postdocs Toolkit - http://web.mit.edu/mitpostdocs & in particular, http://web.mit.edu/mitpostdocs/PostdocWebDocs/Mentor%20toolkit%20w.%20intro-policy-mentor%20plan%20outline%203-2-11.docx
• Statistics on trends in the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in STEM - http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/women/
• ‘Decade of Lessons Learned’ article on models of success and barriers to success in STEM programs at 4 Minority Institutions -cmmap.colostate.edu/scienceEd/docs/WalterEtal.pdf
• Univ. of Washington’s ‘Faculty Retention Toolkit’ -- guide to chairs and deans to facilitate retention and advancement of women/minority faculty - http://www.engr.washington.edu/advance/resources/Retention/index.html
• Association for Women in Science mentoring resources - http://www.mass-awis.org/mentoring
• MentorNet - http://www.mentornet.net/

-L. Trouille

Taking Advantage of Partnerships - The GWISE Example

Post by guest-blogger Meredith Danowski*, PhD student in Astronomy at Boston University.

There's a stack of papers to be graded, a grant proposal that needs some work, a paper that needs to be written, and a class that needs to be prepared. There are family commitments, all those half-deserted hobbies, and some laundry to do. Why on top of that, should you spend time active in a women in STEM organization?

Being "an activist" is often stigmatized. The time I spend planning events could instead go into my research, right? People might assume that because I spend time that is not directly related to my science, I've got misplaced priorities (or a time machine). But as with everything else in my life, my work for women in science is about being efficient and effective.

It makes me a more effective scientist in the long run, if I have a network of scientists I can turn to with questions, if I have a large pool of collaborators-in-the-making, if I have skills beyond data analysis. It makes me a more effective scientist if sometime down the road, I won't have to worry about needing more than twice the publications my male counterpart has, in order to be judged "competent". One of my undergrad professors once said, "you can't be a physics major by yourself." Science does not flourish in a vacuum-- collaborations are often the key to success, the best way to use our time and promote progress. And what works with science, works elsewhere—specifically, collaborative partnerships help one efficiently accomplish the goals of an organization.

For Boston University's GWISE, we are working to build partnerships with other women in science groups to best utilize the available (and scarce!) resources. We hold joint events with the faculty WISE group-- not only do both groups benefit individually, it encourages mentoring and networking and fosters a sense of community. We're also teaming up with the women's organizations in chemistry and biology to bring in speakers and to share not only monetary resources, but womanpower too!

Within the local community, we're harnessing even broader networks. We advertise the events of the women's groups at Harvard and other local institutions-- giving members access to more resources than we alone could provide. Most of our board members are also members of Massachusetts chapter of the Association for Women in Science and have participated in their Mentoring Circle Program. Designed to bring women in STEM together across disciplines and career-levels, the Mentoring Circles have helped us gain access to the wonderful community beyond the borders of our universities. This makes the work of planning events easier & more efficient-- we can draw from a broader network of contacts with diverse ideas and resources.

And finally, we're starting to grapple with the question raised about community and WISE at AAS- What can men do to help? Beyond supporting the cause or getting involved in advocacy, we can, as a first and fundamental step, share the work of helping each other become better scientists and professionals. To this effect, we recently co-hosted our first professional development event with the Student Association of Graduate Engineers. By sharing the work and costs, both groups benefit, and professionally we stand together as the future of the STEM community.

Utilizing networks and partnerships with other organizations is essential to our success. We benefit from collective knowledge and sharing the work, lightening the load on individuals. With a small commitment from many people, we can efficiently manage our time and resources to allow individuals to flourish scientifically and professionally, while achieving a broader impact.


*Meredith Danowski is a PhD student in Astronomy at Boston University and this is her third guest-post on the WIA blog describing her experiences with GWISE. In previous posts she discussed how to get an organization like GWISE started and how to find & utilize institutional support.

Getting Connected-- Engaging Your Institution and Community

Post by guest-blogger Meredith Danowski*, PhD student in Astronomy at Boston University.

You've got a group of people together, committed to a cause. You have ideas and goals, you want to blaze a trail, you want to solve problems. Anyone can plan an event, anyone can voice an opinion, so now we're down to the hard part. To be an effective organization with a voice, you need members, you need to fill a niche, you need to become a part of the fabric of your environment. Regardless of your size or intended audience, fostering relationships between your organization and the greater community is a way to ensure success.

A crucial step forward is to begin a conversation with those in positions of power. Talk to department chairs, university deans, and leaders of your community and get them invested in your cause. Show them how the goals of your organization are consistent with their goals--diversity breeds excellence. Beyond financial support, these individuals can provide ideas, contacts, and administrative resources. Their support of your cause can open doors and encourage the community. They can provide feedback on the impact of your work. And in turn, your organization enriches the academic environment and supports the community.

To extend our connection to the community beyond singular meetings with our departments and college deans, Boston University's GWISE formed an advisory board. With the goal of hearing feedback and engaging seemingly disparate portions of our community in a larger conversation, we invited those leaders to sit together for a discussion. To begin, we sat down and devised a list of people to invite-- we included influential people involved in university administration, individuals engaged in promoting STEM diversity (from other local universities or groups), female leaders in their fields-- those whose input would only help us strengthen our impact.

Once a semester, the leadership of our organization meets with our advisory board. We discuss our recent events, our future plans, and we revisit our mission. We share how our organization is benefiting the community. We talk about areas for improvement, and ask for feedback. Are we accomplishing our goals? What could we do better, and how? Are we serving our membership? How might we increase the participation of our members? We solicit ideas and collect input from a variety of viewpoints.

The key to longevity is to foster a symbiotic relationship between the organization and the community, and this advisory board meeting serves to strengthen that relationship and encourage conversations. Instead of fighting for independence or against the structure around us, we strive to work well within it-- to become an invaluable part of the community. We want to be a part of the conversation, a part of the solution, an instrument for improving the environment. The support of the individuals on the advisory board, the institution, and the community are instrumental in helping us thrive and continue working toward our goal, and hopefully, one day, making us obsolete.



*Meredith Danowski is a PhD student in Astronomy at Boston University and this is her second guest blog at the Women in Astronomy Blog. This is the second in a series where she describes her experiences with GWISE-- she discussed how to get an organization started, and she'll be back to discuss how to build partnerships to effectively provide unique programming.