AASWomen Newsletter for October 25, 2024

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 25, 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:

1. Meet your CSWA!
2. Lowell Observatory Welcomes New Executive Director Dr. Amanda Bosh
3. Women stay in science far longer than thought, study of OECD countries suggests
4. Job Opportunities
5. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
6. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
7. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

Meet Your CSWA!

Since 1979, over 100 people have been members of the CSWA and have worked to to recommend to the AAS Board of Trustees practical measures that can be taken to improve the status of women in astronomy and encourage their entry into this field. The CSWA's Resources page and External page have a plethora of information to help women advance in the field. 

Thank you to the past members of the CSWA and the work you have done for us. Current members are

Name: Jeremy Bailin

Institution: University of Alabama

Specialty Research Area: Galaxy Formation, Globular Clusters

Something Interesting: Former radio DJ

Name: Alessandra Aloisi
Institution: NASA HQ & STScI

Specialty Research Area: resolved stellar populations, star-formation histories and chemistry of the multi-phase ISM in nearby star-forming galaxies

Something Interesting: I speak four languages, including my mother tongue, Italian.

Name: Regina A. Jorgenson
Institution: Maria Mitchell Association, Director of Astronomy

Specialty Research Area: Galaxy Formation and Evolution

Something Interesting: I’m an ethical and compassionate vegan.

                                                       

Name: Stella Kafka

Institution: American Meteorological Society

Specialty Research Area: Variable stars, Cataclysmic Variables

Something Interesting: I have a 4-yo yorkie, called Ruru. I work for him

Name: Dr. Karly Pitman (she/her/hers)

Institution: Chair, AAS CSWA

Specialty Research Area: planetary & ISM dust; radiative transfer & laboratory astrophysics

Something Interesting: I design and sew clothing.

Name: Rayna Rampalli

Institution: Dartmouth College

Specialty Research Area: Galactic Archaeology 

Something Interesting: I swim with the UV Rays master's team in White River Junction, VT  (which is part of the upper valley, or UV, region hence our team name). 

Name: Sukanya Chakrabarti

Institution: UAH

Specialty Research Area: precision measurements to constrain dark matter

Something Interesting: I am starting to do karate again after about 7 years and am currently on my way to a karate camp 😀

Name: Eric Hooper

Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Specialty Research Area: AGN and galaxy connection; radio surveys.

Something Interesting: I've been a downhill skier since my 6th birthday.

We also acknowledge James Keane and Hannah Jang-Condell. Thank you for your service on the CSWA!

AASWOMEN Newsletter for October 18, 2024

 

Beverly T. Lynds with Kate Langin’s telescope.

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 18, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, Ferah Munshi, and Hannah Jang-Condell

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

This week's issues:

1. Crosspost: Meet 2 Innu women trailblazers in astrophysics and land guardianship
2. A member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry shares her perspective on how she and others are trying to expand the nomination pool for the famed awards
3. Beverly Lynds, a pioneer for women in astronomy and astrophysics, advanced the study of dust-and-gas clouds in the Milky Way.
4. Apply to speak at NASA’s next ExoPAG Meeting & Receive ExoPAG/AAS Travel Support
5. Call for New IAU Individual and Junior Members for 2025
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

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

Crosspost: Meet 2 Innu women trailblazers in astrophysics and land guardianship

By Edzi'u Loverin, for CBC News

Rousseau-Nepton (left) at a
Canadian Astronomical Society conference
in Toronto (Photo: CBC).

Laurie Rousseau-Nepton says she wants to understand the very large and the very small, and that's why she became the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a PhD in astrophysics. 

Rousseau-Nepton received her PhD in 2017 from Université Laval in Quebec City. She said that at the time she wasn't aware she was the first Indigenous woman in Canada to do that.

But she said she did realize that ancestral knowledge from her community was missing in the study of the stars.

"I made it a quest to find it back, to retrieve that knowledge and reconnect it," Rousseau-Nepton said.

Valérie Courtois, who is also Innu from Mashteuiatsh in Quebec, became the third person to receive the Shackleton Medal, and the first Indigenous person, when she was awarded the prize earlier this year. 

The Shackleton outdoor clothing company launched the medal and £10,000 prize in 2022, awarding it for "courage, determination, ingenuity and leadership" in protecting the world's polar regions.

Read more at

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/innu-science-women-trailblazers-1.7238537

AASWomen Newsletter for 11 October, 2014

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 18, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, Hannah Jang-Condell, and Ferah Munshi

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

This week's issues:

1. Women Reinventing Science - Part 1
2. Space for Students - Part 1
3. Women are better than men at science job interviews
4. Habitable Worlds Observatory System Technology Demonstrations and Mission Architecture Studies
5. AAS Dependent Care Grants
6. Annoincing S PLUS Science Hunters
7. Development of NASA-DARES 2025: The NASA Decadal Astrobiology Research and Exploration Strategy
8. Vera Rubin: Opening doors to dark matter and women in STEM
9. WGAP Women and girls in astronomy program
10. The Forgotten Women of Astronomy
11. AAS News on Women in Astronomy
12. World Space Week
13. Job Opportunities
14. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
15. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
16. Access to Past Issues

An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.

Women Reinventing Science - Part 1

Eds Note: We’re delighted to share with our readers excerpts from The Reinvention of Science by Bernard Jones, Vicent Martínez and Virginia Trimble, which describes women scientists who helped reinvent science. To learn about the book, watch a video summary.

In honor of "Nobel Prize Week", below is text excerpted from the chapter about a few women deserving of the Nobel Prize: Marietta Blau, Rosalind Franklin, Lise Meitner, and Jocelyn Bell.

By Vicent J. Martínez, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Universitat de València

Marietta Blau (1894–1970)

The Anschluss4 in 1938 affected the career of the brilliant Jewish woman physicist Lise Meitner (1878–1968) and contributed to her exclusion from the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for nuclear fission that was awarded to her collaborator Otto Hahn (1879–1968). A similar series of events happened to Marietta Blau (1894–1970), an Austrian Jewish physicist who also had to leave her country in 1938, for the same reason. She probably deserved to share the Nobel Prize for the use of photographic emulsions for particle detection (cosmic rays, radioactivity and accelerators) — a prize that later went to the British physicist Cecil Powell (1903–1969).

“Could have” means alive when the topic they had worked on was recognized. This excludes both Henry Moseley killed at Gallipoli in 1915 and Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958) who imaged the X-ray diffraction patterns of crystalline DNA that led Watson and Crick to the double helix structure but died of cancer well before the 1962 Chemistry Nobel went to James D. Watson, Francis H.C. Crick (1916–2004) and Maurice H.F. Wilkins (1916–2004) who had been Franklin’s boss.

“Should have” means that the person made a major, perhaps irreplaceable, contribution to an invention or discovery that did earn a Nobel Prize for someone else. Many physicists would put near the tops of their lists Lise Meitner, and perhaps Fritz Strassmann or Otto Robert Frisch (1904–1979) for the discovery of nuclear fission. That 1944 Chemistry prize went exclusively to her contemporary, Berlin chemist Otto Hahn, who remained in Berlin when she necessarily left, because her Austrian citizenship was no longer protecting her from German actions against Jews after Anschluss in 1938.

For many astronomers, the list is topped by S. Jocelyn Bell. A near tie for top ranking is Vera Cooper Rubin (1918–2016) for her role in the discovery of dark matter, a topic which has not yet been distinguished by a Nobel. Vera sadly died in 2016 and so is no longer in the “could have” category, while Jocelyn (b. in 1943) is  still alive and well.

On a later occasion, Jocelyn Bell said “I think there are still a number of inbuilt structural disadvantages for women”, as Coroniti and Williams remarked in their chapter about Jocelyn Bell in Out of the Shadows (2006, edited by Nina Byers and Gary Williams, CUP).

Prof. Dame S. Jocelyn Bell Burnell has had a rather peripatetic career and has a much longer WIKI than Hewish. For some years after their marriage, she followed her husband, Martin, back and forth across Britain, picking up research and teaching jobs where she could. Thus, she was a gamma-ray astronomer for a while, then an X-ray astronomer, working particularly with the British satellite Ariel V and participating in the discovery of X-ray pulsating and bursting sources.

Later Bell Burnell became an infrared astronomer and project manager for the James Clerk Maxwell submillimeter telescope in Hawaii (1986–1990), then on to a professorship at the Open University in Milton Keynes. She was Dean of Sciences at the University of  Bath (2001–2004) and in 2018 was appointed Chancellor of the University  of Dundee in Scotland.

Bell-Burnell (b. 1943)

Meanwhile, as it were, Jocelyn has received prizes and lectureships associated with the names of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Beatrice Tinsley, William Herschel, Karl Jansky, Grote Reber, John Bolton (three of the founders of radio astronomy), Magellan and Gordon. She has served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society (2002–2004) and was the first female president of the Institute of Physics (2008– 2010) and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2014–2016). She was “promoted” to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2007. Her various accolades mention not only pulsars but also her extended contributions to education and the promotion of the status of women in science. Bell was awarded the Honoris Causa doctorate by the University of Valencia in 2017.

Jocelyn Bell was awarded a Breakthrough prize in 2018 ($3 million US) for the discovery of pulsars. We agree with Brian Keating, who has said that this Breakthrough award “rights past injustices and properly honors the pioneering and pivotal contributions of a scientist who opened a new window on the cosmos.”

Space for Students - Part 1

In our popular Career Profile series, the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy has compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers, planetary scientists, and those in related fields.

In a twist on this series, we video-interviewed students in astronomy and astrophysics to highlight their personal and academic career paths. The purpose of this series is three-fold. It aims not only to give a voice and exposure to those who are up and coming in the field but also to give feedback to the Astronomical community at large about the experiences of students who identify as women. The hope is that these interviews will not only share advice and lessons learned but will shed light on how to encourage and inspire more women, from various backgrounds and skill sets, to follow space trajectories, and reach towards the stars.

By: Libby Fenstermacher

Below is our interview with Ainsley Helgerson, a senior undergraduate student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach Campus, as of Fall 2024. The first of four siblings to attend college, Ainsley is currently working towards a dual major in Space Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics with a minor in Applied Mathematics. This past summer, she was stationed in Boulder, CO at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), where she focused on data analysis of quasi-annual short-term variabilities, which are fluctuations in the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle. Outside of her studies, Ainsley enjoys sewing and playing the clarinet, and when time allows, she also enjoys watching ‘Law-and-Order SVU’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’

“…it may seem really hard at the time, and you’ll want to quit, but get it done anyway, because your future self will thank you for that hard work you put in. I know there’s been countless times where I’ve pushed forward, and I’ve overcome a lot of obstacles and really challenging classes. But I’m so thankful that I went through all of that because I’m better than I used to be. At the end of the day, the worst critic is yourself. Once you get past that fear of not being enough, the fear of failure, or even comparing yourself to others, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish.” - Ainsley Helgerson

Watch the video!

Transcript: Libby Fenstermacher and Ainsley Helgerson

Libby: Hi everybody, my name is Libby Fenstermacher. I'm here today with Ainsley and she's going to tell us a little bit about her experiences with astronomy, and being a woman and a student in astronomy. So, thank you for joining me. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your background?

Ainsley: Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm very excited for this. So, my name is Ainsley Helgerson and I'm originally from North Dakota, but I now go to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL, where I pursue a double major in astronomy and astrophysics and space physics. Along with a minor in applied mathematics, it's a big mouthful to say. I have what else? I have three siblings and I am the first one out of all four of us to go to college. So, it was a really big change for all of us. In high school, I competed in archery, and I played the clarinet in band, and now, I'm a senior in college and now, I'm here. So, it's very exciting. I'm very excited.

Libby: That's so amazing. What inspired you to choose a path in astronomy in the first place?

Ainsley: Well, I actually didn't know what I wanted to do for a long time. Being in North Dakota, there weren’t a lot of STEM opportunities out there for me, and I didn't know if I wanted to pursue STEM. And it was just really challenging trying to figure it out. And there weren't a lot of college credit opportunities either. So, I chose astrophysics…randomly, because… I know it's not very inspirational for people, but I chose it randomly actually because I knew it would open a lot of doors to a ton of possibilities for me and it would be a big challenge for me to accomplish and I felt that I could do it. And I actually decided to do astrophysics when I was a second-semester senior in high school. So, I applied, I think the day before the deadline for Embry-Riddle. And it was a complete, you know, one shot, the only school I applied for. If I didn't get in, I'd take a gap year. It was kind of once, like once that was done, that was it. I wasn't going to do anything else. And after that, I just went for it and I found my passion in it, which I was really lucky for. So, I'm very happy that I didn't have to switch.

Libby: That's so awesome. Well, you know, at the end of the day, it's all a random choice when it comes down to it. So, it seems like you made the right one.

Ainsley: Yeah, for sure

Libby: So, what about astronomy excites you? What drew you in, in the first place? Or astrophysics as well?

Ainsley: Well, a lot of people get confused with the terminology of astronomy and astrophysics. But in hindsight, I really love working with math. I love math and I really do enjoy working with all STEM topics. It doesn't have to be just, you know, physics or chemistry. It can be, you know, biology. It can be any STEM-related topic. I love mechanical work, electrical work, all that stuff is really interesting too. But I chose astronomy really because it gave me excitement that we don't know literally anything about what's out there in the universe. And we've barely, if you really consider it, we barely touched the surface of what is actually out there and it's extremely exciting to be part, especially of the new space generation, that has been coming out with Artemis, with SpaceX and you know, Sierra Nevada, they've all been coming out with these huge new missions and it's really exciting to be part in the new technological era. And I think it's really cool and really exciting that I can be at the forefront of the newest things being discovered and even being a part of the things being discovered. Or maybe maybe I'll be the one to discover it. I mean, you never know. It's all so exciting.

Libby: I'm just so excited for you and your future path. What about astronomy has been challenging for you and what have you done to overcome those challenges?

Ainsley: So, one of the biggest challenges that I've personally experienced and I know a lot of people at my university have experienced is not necessarily about the difficulty of the classes or whether they're passionate or not. It's actually about whether you're disciplined, and you know how to study and your study habits. I have been tested in many ways regarding how much I want to study and how much I want to get to where I want to be. And the discipline really comes into play, especially in the upper-level classes. You can be so interested in the classes, but if you don't have the right study habits or if you're not super passionate about it, you're not going to succeed in the way that you want to. And unfortunately, sometimes that happens and it's totally OK if you find out, you know, your junior year that that's not what you want to do. That's totally fine. Physics isn't for everyone. It's definitely one of the hardest subjects out there to learn and to succeed at. And I would say I'm doing a good job, you know, just being able to pass my classes and just being able to understand where my limitations are. And being able to realize that if this class is challenging me in ways that I haven't experienced, it's a good thing, not a bad thing. And even though it may be hard, I know I'll succeed at the end of the day.

Libby: Awesome. What do you think is a common misperception about astronomy and astrophysics and the educational path in general?

Ainsley: Well, one of the biggest misconceptions that I received specifically from people who aren't in STEM, is that I'm studying astrology. So, the Zodiac signs, which is very, very false.

Libby: That's not the first time I've heard that.

Ainsley: Yeah. Another misconception that I get is they assume I'm going to be an astronaut and I'm not going to…. I don't think I'm planning to be an astronaut anytime soon. If I go down that path, that's where I go. But that's not, that's not what physics is. But yeah, I think. What is another one? Another big misconception that I've found just kind at my school because we have the astronomy and astrophysics tie, is a lot of people think that astronomy is all observational. It's all very hands-on, it's very instrumentational. But unfortunately, we don't have a lot of classes like that, and they forget that we actually have to take fundamental physics, we have to take quantum mechanics, atomic and nuclear physics, classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism and all of that is so math-heavy and so physics-heavy that I think a lot of people, I mean, I certainly wasn't educated on it when I was a, you know, senior in high school. But going into it, you don't expect to do that much math and physics until you're in it and you realize, oh, this is, this is a bit different than I was expecting. And sometimes that causes people to transfer and leave the university because sometimes it's just not what they're interested in.

Libby: So, you have to get through more of the building blocks first and then you're putting it all together later on in the program.

Ainsley: Yeah, for sure. And most of the instrumentational stuff actually comes during your master's or your PhD, not even during your undergraduates. I think the only classes I've taken that are lab-related are ones tailored to fundamental physics. But even then, they're very guided and they're not very individualized. So, it takes a long time to get up to that point in your education.

Libby: Yeah, I could see that long road being a little bit discouraging for some, not knowing what lies ahead. What projects are you currently working on?

Ainsley: So, I'm currently stationed in Boulder, CO and I'm an intern working at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, also known as NCAR, which is managed by the National Science Foundation, which is the NSF. I'm doing data analysis on quasi-annual short-term variabilities. Which are different fluctuations in the sun's 11-year solar cycle. So my goals for this project, because I have around a month left of this project, is to hopefully get accepted to present at the EGU 2024 conference this December and extend my research into the fall semester to make a paper on it and hopefully get it published, which I hope I hopefully, hopefully, I can get that done, which I think I will be able to given I still have a couple of weeks left. And I know that I'll be able to make a poster for the end of the internship too. So, it's kind of all coming together, thankfully.

Libby: Well, hopefully by the time this blog goes live, we'll have heard the results of that and know whether you got into it. So, the next question dives right into that. What are your near future plans?

Ainsley: Well, my current future plans are I'll finish my internship, and graduate next year on time, because I've been doing really good in my classes, and I have one year left, and I really don't want to mess that up. And hopefully, get accepted into a graduate program. I'm looking at some different schools for a master’s or PhD and I do want to pursue Heliophysics as my upper-level education. And I guess after I get accepted, we'll see where it leads.

Libby: That's so exciting. What advice would you give to someone considering a trajectory similar to yours?

Ainsley: Well, there's so much advice that I could give to someone, but I would say the main point that I always do enjoy telling people is, as challenging as it may be, do it for your future self. I tell myself that all the time and if you enjoy it. And as long as you know that that's what you want to do, and it may seem really hard at the time and you want to quit, get it done anyway because your future self will thank you for that and that hard work that you put in. I know there's been countless times where I've pushed forward and I've overcome a lot of classical mechanics, overcome a lot of obstacles, and really challenging classes. But I'm really thankful that I went through all of that because I'm better than I used to be. And at the end of the day, the worst critic is yourself. Once you get past that fear of not being enough, the fear of failure, or even comparing yourself to others, there's no limit to what you can accomplish. Libby: Totally. That's beautiful. Did you yourself receive any mentorship? And if so, what's the best piece of advice that you have garnered from that?

Ainsley: So, I've been given a lot of really wonderful advice [from] the people that I've encountered during my undergraduate years, and one of the most important aspects I've really taken away, and it's also about observations that I've just noticed, is knowing how to balance your work life and your personal life. It's always good and always wonderful to get as much done as you possibly can every single day but having that balance can benefit yourself and benefit others. And it can, you know, retain, and maintain the relationships that you've had with mentors, with your significant other, with your friends, even your family. And even, you know, as an undergraduate, you're put through really vigorous classes more than you would, you know, you're maybe even I'm not. I can't speak for people in your master’s or your PhD, but as an undergraduate, you're taking so many classes and you're involved in so many things. Especially as a physics student, even the smallest break does wonders for your emotional and mental health.

Libby: I can't even imagine. That's awesome. So, let's see here. Find out where I am on my questions for you. This has been a wonderful interview so far. Thank you again so much for joining me. What, if any, changes would you like to see for women in astronomy?

Ainsley: So, one aspect that I really hope to see is the ability to be treated equally among the academic and academic wise. I've seen this in myself and I've seen a lot of women that get questioned in their ability to comprehend something that when they learn it, they either don't retain it, or they can't do it afterward just because they are women. One example of mine is that I'm an academic tutor where at my university. I'm one of the only female academic tutors who code in MATLAB, and I'm one of the only females who are an expert in that specific coding language. And it's just something surprising because I've seen a lot of kids who won't come to me because I'm a woman and they won't come to me because they don't think I'm an expert enough in the field and they'll go to a male co-worker instead. And I've noticed that a lot and it's frustrating, but also. At the same time, it's nothing that I can control and that's on them. And at the end of the day, I just do what I can, and hope things change in the future.

Libby: That's all we can do. What's your favorite movie or your favorite TV show?

Ainsley: So, I would say my favorite TV show or series is I've always loved the Law-and-Order Special Victims Unit season. I find them just captivating to watch. And obviously, every girl loves this, but I also love Grey's Anatomy. Those are the two main shows that I at least had the time to watch. I mostly watched them in high school and freshman year of college, and I don't really watch a lot now, given I'm very busy.

Libby: Yeah, not very much time there. Do you have any last-minute things you'd like to share or anything else that you want to share today?

Ainsley: One last thing that I would like to share is it doesn't matter where you come from or what your background is or is going to be. As long as you keep working towards what you want to be and what your goals are, you will get there. And sometimes it takes a bit longer than others, but as long as you keep pushing forward, you will, you will get to where you want to be. Cause I know I will. Even if it's slower, faster than others, I know I will get it. I will get there one day.

Libby: As the saying goes, Ad Astra Per Aspera.

Ainsley: Exactly.

Libby: Through hardship to the stars. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. And I can't wait to share your story. And yes, I'll share your contact information in the blog so that people can get a hold of you if they'd like. And have a wonderful rest of your day. Ainsley: Yeah. Thank you very much. Bye.

Libby: Bye