Career Profiles: Astronomer to Communications and Stewardship Staff Writer

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

Below is our interview with Dr. JoEllen McBride, an astronomer who left astronomy to become a science writer. While a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she recognized her interest in outreach and education and developed her experience in these areas. After receiving her PhD, Dr. McBride was awarded an AAAS Mass Media Fellowship to be a science journalist at Voice of America. By day she is a Communications and Stewardship Staff Writer for Penn Medicine Development and Alumni Relations. The rest of her time is split between being with her family of two daughters, Carina and Alessa; two kitties, Thelma and Louise; and her partner, Ed, who is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Math at Thomas Jefferson University East Falls. She also still gives public talks about astronomy and teaches 4th-grade girls about astronomy ten Saturdays out of the year. You can follow her on Twitter at @astrophyspunkin or on Instagram at @astropunkin.

To access our previous Career Profiles, please go to http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/search/label/career%20profiles

AASWomen Newsletter for October 18, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 18, 2019
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

This week's issues:

1. US Delegation to the 7th International Conference on Women in Physics

2. Are We Pressuring Students to Choose a Hostile STEM?

3. The Style-Quantifying Astrophysicists of Silicon Valley

4. Viewpoint: Feynman, Harassment, and the Culture of Science

5. Doris Lessing at 100: roving time and space

6. Trailblazer in astronomy and science is Delaware's contribution to innovation coin series

7. How I overcame impostor syndrome after leaving academia

8. Shared parental leave: making it work for the whole family

9. Why the 2019 Nobel Prizes in STEM struggled with diversity

10. Once, most famous scientists were men. But that’s changing.

11. Transitioning from postdoc researcher to gig-economy scientist

12. NASA's First All-Female Spacewalk Set For Friday

13. Working Scientist podcast: How to inspire young women to consider scientific careers

14. Award recognizes efforts to inspire girls to pursue science careers

15. REGISTER NOW: Astro2020 Webinar on October 28 at 1:30pm ET

16. Extreme Galaxies and their Extreme Environments as Probes of Galaxy Formation Conference

17. Workshop announcement: How to start a peer-led SVSH prevention program

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

US Delegation to the 7th International Conference on Women in Physics

By Beth Cunningham

ICWIP 2017 Group Photo
Copyright Liz Hingley, IoP and University of Birmingham

Every three years, starting in 2002, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics has sponsored a global conference for women physicists and astronomers. About 200 women and their male allies from approximately 60 countries gather to talk about their success stories and continuing challenges in advancing the careers of women in physics and astronomy. Attendees must be part of a country delegation in order to participate. The conference includes plenary sessions with world-renowned women physicists and astronomers, breakout sessions on special topics such as education and improving the workplace, poster sessions to highlight activities supporting women in each country and for attendees to showcase their own work, and multiple opportunities for networking and building collaborations and alliances. The seventh International Conference on Women in Physics (ICWIP 2020), will be held in Melbourne, Australia, from July 13 through July 17, 2020. The proceedings of all the previous ICWIPs are freely available.

AASWomen Newsletter for October 11, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 11, 2019
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

From item #1

This week's issues:

1. Crosspost: Women in Planetary Science, Summary from the Planetary Allyship Meeting 2019

2. Apology from the Blogger-in-Chief

3. ‘More women are being nominated’: Nobel academy head discusses diversity

4. The 1st All-Female Spacewalk Is Back on As NASA Gears Up for 10-EVA Marathon

5. Suggest new names for next generation Source Extractor

6. ‘Graduate school is not designed for us’: For parents in graduate programs, traditional academia and gendered expectations clash

7. Ada Lovelace, Pioneer

8. Too Emotional to Go to Space — 'Lucy in the Sky' Reinforces Negative Stereotypes (Op-Ed)

9. 30 women in robotics you need to know about – 2019

10. Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to scientists, some rally behind one who never got one

11. How to be your most authentic self

12. NIH marquee awards for ‘high risk, high reward’ projects skew male—again

13. Staying Power: a convening about postdoctoral women

14. STEM Student Success: Promising Approaches from Minority Serving Institutions

15. The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM

16. Applications for the US Delegation to the 7th International Conference on Women in Physics

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 September 20, 2019

From item # 2

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of September 20, 2019
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

This week's issues:

1. Cross-post: What’s new for women+ on the science teams for NASA’s robotic planetary missions?

2. From Moon Goddesses to Astronauts: Picturing Women in Space

3. How to close the gender gap in science and technology

4. Gender equality: 'No room at the top for women scientists'

5. NASA Workshop: PI Launchpad

6. The Physics Teacher call for papers

7. Another Epstein-Related Resignation

8. Gender & Sex Discrimination in the Workplace | Hofstra MA ALS Online

9. AAS Astronomy Ambassadors Workshop: Techniques & Resources for Effective Public Engagement

10. Job Opportunities

11. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

13. Access to Past Issues of the AASWOMEN newsletter

AASWomen Newsletter for September 13, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of September 13, 2019
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

[We have a *new email address* for receiving submissions to the newsletter: aaswomen_at_lists.aas.org. An editor will reply with a confirmation of receipt. Please update us in your contacts, and thank you for your submissions. --eds.]

From item #10

This week's issues:

1. AAS Board Reflections: James Lowenthal

2. AAS Climate Site Visit program launches

3. Conference: Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education

4. How to banish manels and manferences from scientific meetings

5. 125 Women in STEM Selected as AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors

6. Women hold one in five top science and tech jobs

7. TED talks get a spike in 10 years: Influential speeches become new career option for women

8. Career progression for women in science is still being stifled

9. Overcoming Ice and Stereotypes at the Bottom of the World

10. A physics department fosters an inclusive environment

11. Job Opportunities

12. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

14. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

AASWomen Newsletter for September 06, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of September 06, 2019
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

[We have a *new email address* for receiving submissions to the newsletter: aaswomen_at_lists.aas.org. An editor will reply with a confirmation of receipt. Please update us in your contacts, and thank you for your submissions. --eds.]

Mary Ward, from item 6

This week's issues:

1. AAS Board Reflections: Stuart Vogel

2. Astrophysicist releases kids book Under the Stars: Astrophysics for Bedtime to inspire a passion for STEM

3. Women Scientists Form a Policy Advocacy Network in the Mid-Atlantic

4. Fifteen tips to make scientific conferences more welcoming for everyone

5. Survival Tips For Women In Tech: Who else is the only woman on their dev team?

6. Mary Ward: Feminist famous as the first person to be killed in a car accident

7. New data analysis proves science is sexist

8. All-female robotics team wins major awards while slashing stereotypes of women, Latinos in STEM

9. Girls Would do Better in Maths and Science Tests if Exams Were Made Longer, Study Finds

10. A better future for graduate-student mental health

11. Make science PhDs more than just a training path for academia

12. Job Opportunities

13. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

14. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

15. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter