AAS Candidate Questionnaire

Community members interested in issues of equity & inclusion have authored a survey for AAS members running for elected office, to request additional details on their policy positions and plans related to their prospective offices. The full questionnaire appears below. It was constructed with input from the community on issues that are important to all of us as we cast our votes.

A star (*) appears by the 5 questions that the authors consider the most important.


Survey responses will be made publicly available to AAS voters in read-only Google documents, and the availability of these responses will be advertised on the Astronomy in Color blog and here on the Women in Astronomy blog.

AAS Candidate Questionnaire

1. In a few sentences, what does equity and inclusion in astronomy mean to you?

2. In terms of racial, sexual, gender, and disability equity in our field, what do you believe the AAS is doing well, and what does the AAS need to improve?

3. (*) As part of the AAS leadership, what equity issue do you most want to address? What challenges do you believe the AAS will need to address in the next three years?

4. How do you see the AAS leading our field to racial, sexual, gender, and disability equity while respecting the self-governance of universities, departments, and other employers?

5. (*) Beyond its astronomy-specific responsibilities, do you see the AAS responding to more general threats to the rights or welfare of marginalized groups in the U.S., even if it risks political backlash?

6. What can the AAS do or continue doing to aid the professional development and employment opportunities for its growing population of junior members from minoritized groups?

7. (*) How will you work with the AAS Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA), the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA), the Working Group on Accessibility and Disability (WGAD), and the Committee for Sexual Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy (SGMA) to ensure that the AAS is continually progressing toward making astronomy equitable for all?

8. (*) What background and experience in inclusion, equity, and accessibility work would you bring to this position that would help you make progress on these priorities? What personal experience would help inform your stance on these issues?

9. (*) Given recent publicized revelations of sexual harassment by senior astronomers, how do you believe that the AAS could help improve the climate in our field to better protect members from experiencing harassment along all axes (including race, disability, sexuality, and gender identification) and to support those who have experienced it?

10. Do you support at least one plenary AAS session per year (either at the winter or summer meeting) that addresses community issues related to equity and inclusion? How would you use your position as AAS leadership to ensure there is ample time and support for this type of plenary?

Increasing diversity by ditching the GRE

Every Fall seniors in the US take the Graduate Records Examination (GRE), and their scores are submitted along with their applications to grad school. Many professors, particularly those in physics departments, believe that the GRE is an important predictor of future success in grad school, and as a result many admissions committees employ score cutoffs in the early stages of their selection process. However, past and recent studies have shown that there is little correlation between GRE scores and future graduate school success.

The most recent study of this type was recently published in Nature Jobs. The authors, Casey Miller and Keivan Stassun show there are strong correlations between GRE scores and race/gender, with minorities and (US) white women scoring lower than their white male (US) counterparts. They conclude, "In simple terms, the GRE is a better indicator of sex and skin colour than of ability and ultimate success."

Here's the key figure from their article:

How this is Related to Astronomy?

As part of my role as Blogger-in-Chief for Women in Astronomy, I cross-post blog articles to groups on various social networks. Cross-posting has been great at getting wider exposure for this blog, and our readership has increased dramatically since I've started doing this.

However, with increased readership and exposure, we also get increased feedback, criticism, and frustrating responses to our posts. As the person who posts these blog articles to these communities, I get notified when people comment, and its been very interesting to see how many people don't believe that discrimination, harassment, or biases exist in scientific communities, or don't think information about these issues is relevant to them.

Below are some examples of these discussions, with links to the threads on Google+ and Facebook. I encourage those of you who read this blog to participate in these discussions (mostly in the Facebook Astronomers Group and the Google+ Science Community although there is also discussions in the LinkedIn Groups Association for Women in Science, APS Physics, Women in Physics, and American Astronomical Society.  In my opinion, the fact that people vocalize these views means that we have much more work to do.

How Do We "Demand Equality"?

Today’s guest blogger is Elizabeth Rivers. Elizabeth is a postdoc on the NuSTAR team at Caltech, studying X-ray spectral properties of Active Galactic Nuclei. Here, she responds to two questions that have come up repeatedly in the wake of the New York Times article, Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?

1) How are we supposed to “demand equality” when we are only graduate students (or undergraduates, or postdocs); we have no power; what can we possibly do?

2) Why should we keep at it when we know from all these data that we are going to have to work twice as hard for half as much recognition, less money, and fewer job opportunities?

In response to the first question I have compiled a list of advice I have heard from other female physicists and observed in my own life.  It is by no means comprehensive, but I hope to give you some strategies you can try.  Don’t forget that “demanding equality” doesn’t have to be aggressive, but sometimes you do need to make yourself heard and, more importantly, understood.

Problem: Women are perceived as less competent than men.  

Solution: Give great talks. So many scientists underestimate the importance of practicing public speaking.  You need to practice, do it in front of people, and then get feedback.  Repeatedly.  If you still do not feel confident in your ability to present your work, try a public speaking workshop or an improv acting class.  You will quickly learn that what all these things really give you is confidence.  When I was gearing up to defend my thesis my advisor told me, “You are the expert on this topic.  No one else in the room knows as much about it as you do.”  Which is a good thing to remember, especially when you are being bombarded with questions.  Don’t apologize, don’t let yourself be bullied, and if someone is being truly obnoxious just move on.  And don’t forget, most people form their overall impression of you in the first few seconds, so start confident, dress well, and if possible, make sure the person introducing you has material to talk you up with.