Women In Astronomy

Monday, March 11, 2013

Academia and Family Structure

Today's guest blogger is Annika Peter. Annika studies dark matter and gravitational dynamics and is currently finishing up a postdoctoral position at UC Irvine. She is moving to a faculty position in the Departments of Physics and Astronomy at The Ohio State University.

A number of studies indicate that, at the faculty level, a large proportion of women physicists and astronomers are partnered with other academic scientists (especially other physicists!). The exact numbers are hard to come by---a lot of the time, all physical scientists are lumped together in studies, even though there are hints that there are major differences across fields (with Stanford’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research finding that physicists have the most “endogamous” marriage habits). I have found only one survey specific to physicists, and it is not especially recent (1998 to be specific). Moreover, I have not yet been able to find cohort studies that examine family structures at a variety of career stages, or studies of the reasons why both men and women leave the academic track. I am also interested to see if there is greater or lesser selection pressure on dual academic couples. In my experience, a high percentage of women in physics and astronomy are coupled with other academic scientists at just about all career stages, but I would like to see some cold, hard numbers on this.

AASWomen for March 8, 2013

Posted by Unknown

AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy
Issue of March 8, 2013
eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy

This week's issues:

1. CSWA seeking new committee members

2. Meg Urry Elected President of the AAS

3. Women in Science: Challenges and Opportunities

4. (Re)starting the Discussion about Hiring Practices

5. First time away from the kids? Whoop it up!

6. Feathering the Intellectual Nest

7. The Finkbeiner Test: What Matters in Stories about Women Scientists?

8. Special Section in Nature on Women in Science

9. Should we replace work-life-balance with autonomy?

10. Call for Nominations for the 2013 IUPAP Young Scientist Medal in the field of Astrophysics

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

Feathering the Intellectual Nest*

Posted by Nicolle Zellner

A few weeks ago, for almost 48 hours, I didn’t grade, read, or think (much) about department issues. Crazy, huh? The semester had just started and I should have been preparing new class lecture notes, finishing up projects from the past semester, or otherwise trying to “pre-organize” so that I don’t feel like I’m putting out proverbial fires every day over the next few months. But that weekend? Forget it. That weekend was for me - and a few of my girlfriends.

First time away from the kids? Whoop it up!

Posted by Joan Schmelz

Today’s guest blogger is Evgenya Shkolnik. Evgenya is a tenure-track astronomer at Lowell Observatory, where she studies exoplanets, young low-mass stars, and star-planet interactions. She also is the mother of three young children: Reuben (age 6), Sima (age 4), Leona (age 1.8). Below is an email exchange Evgenya had recently with her friend Kim, a geophysicist.

Hi Evgenya,

I need advice/help from a veteran. In two weeks, I'll be heading out to Dublin for a week-long conference and leaving my kids for the first time ever. I'm not too concerned about Sam but I'm worried about how Beatrix is going to deal with my absence. She's almost 2 so won't really understand that I'm just temporarily away. How have your littlest ones coped when you've been away? Any tips? Colin will be with them and I've got my Mom coming out to stay while I'm away so I'm hoping that offers enough distraction. Also, Beatrix still nurses a few times a day so I'm worried that my absence will be traumatizing. And, how do you personally cope with being away from your kids for extended periods? I'm missing them already and I haven't even left yet!! I think I'm going to need therapy after this! Any words of wisdom, or consoling, are greatly appreciated.

All the best,
Kim

(Re)starting the Discussion about Hiring Practices

Posted by Unknown

Many of us received the following email from the AAS, containing a letter from David Helfand (AAS president) about hiring practices. I thought I'd repost it here, to provide a space for discussion about this topic.

What do you think?

Should we revamp our letter of recommendation system?
Should we set a deadline for faculty positions as we do for postdocs (Feb 15)?
Should departments cut down on the number of in-person campus interviews?
How can we create a more sustainable relationship between the number of PhDs and the job opportunities available?
What support should we be providing to better prepare our PhDs for the full range of interesting careers?

Letter from Dr. Helfand:

For a significant fraction of our membership, February is probably not their favorite month. Despite being the calendrical midget with the smallest number of days, for those on the job market it probably produces the largest amount of anxiety. Indeed, the entire job search process seems to consume a larger number of months, a larger expenditure of resources, a larger amount of time, and a larger quantity of emotional energy than it did the last time I applied for a job 36 years ago. Should we reduce this burden? And, if so, how do we go about doing that? I certainly don't know the answer(s), but I think it is time to start asking the question(s).

Women in Science: Challenges and Opportunities

Posted by Unknown

AASWomen mentioned a thoughtful, short (< 5 minute) video in this Friday's newsletter. It contains a few nuggets of wisdom I wanted to highlight, to help kick off the week on the right foot.

AASWomen for March 1, 2013

Posted by Unknown

AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy
Issue of March 1, 2013
eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy

This week's issues:

1. March is Women's History Month

2. The Ph.D. Bust: America's Awful Market for Young Scientists

3. "Why So Few?" a short presentation about the 2010 AAUW report

4. Taking time to think about expectations for women in undergraduate science

5. What does it mean to be smart?

6. Men and Women, Like Totally, Talk Differently?

7. Women in science: challenges and opportunities

8. The Spring 2013 Gazette is available online

9. The 2013 Blewett Fellowship

10. Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

11. 2013 Rocks!

12. Job Opportunities