AASWomen Newsletter for February 1, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women

February 1, 2019

eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride

This week's issues: 

Image Credit: Shayanne Gal/Business Insider (August 2018)

1. From young to youthful - the challenges of mid-career  

2. Interviews with Scientist on “Person Place Thing”  

3. Q&A: Pulsar pioneer Jocelyn Bell Burnell

4. Scientists’ salary data highlight US$18,000 gender pay gap

5. How gender disparities in salary add up over a lifetime

6. To learn inclusion skills, make it personal

7. To Groom Better Scientists, Harness the Power of Narrative

8. It’s Time to Rethink Who’s Best Suited for Space Travel 

9. Celebrate the women behind the periodic table

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

From young to youthful - the challenges of mid-career

By Orsola De Marco

Orsola De Marco is an Astrophysicists working at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She is Italian born, but complete her degrees at University College London. She spent the better part of a decade at the American Museum of Natural History, where she worked in research as well as Astronomy documentaries. 

Walking the tight rope takes a lot of training. Even more so if the walker carries two suitcases, and is balancing a ball on her nose. It is hard but it can be done with some innate ability and the right encouragement. And so the walker takes her first few steps, to the applause of the audience. But as her pace picks up, now steady and confident, the audience starts to leave, the encouragement wanes and she realises that she is not yet on the other side. Not by a long way. Then the wind strengthens and the suitcases are feeling heavier. Though experienced, she now has to figure out a new set of tricks to keep her balance.

In one’s mid-career, having achieved some measure of success (a job, even professor title) things are by no means slowing down or getting easier. There are still very large and growing expectations of maintaining a certain level of research, teaching and administration. And while these expectations grow, the kids, who for a few years have been easier, older, more independent, turn into teens, with teen problems. And the ageing parents who were helpful, turn into … kids. And suddenly life and work become a new match of some well-known game where the rules have been altered, like a professional soccer player, placed in a game of bubble football, where skill is sabotaged by grotesque obstacles.

AASWomen Newsletter for January 25, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women  

Issue of January 25, 2019

eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, JoEllen McBride, and Alessandra Aloisi (guest ed.)

Photo by Douglas Sonders

This week's issues:

1. Cross-post: Women in Planetary Science, Summary of DPS 2018 Planetary Allyship Meeting
2. CORRECTION: Making Waves: 6 Women in Hawaii with Careers in STEM Share Their Stories

3. Nancy Roman, the American space agency NASA's first Chief Astronomer

4. Typical physics Ph.D. admissions criteria limit access to underrepresented groups but fail to predict doctoral completion

5. Influenster Now Accepting 2019 Women in STEM Academic Scholarship Applications

6. Women in space: Roscosmos sets sights on creating female crew of cosmonauts, says source

7. Mind The Gap: Women Underrepresented In Awarding Of Prestigious Prizes

8. When Bankwest's female tech staff are told "girls don't hack", this is what they do...

9. Job Opportunities  

10. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

12. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Cross-post: Women in Planetary Science, Summary of DPS 2018 Planetary Allyship Meeting

The Women in Planetary Science blog this week featured a summary of last fall's Planetary Allyship Meeting at the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) conference. The group held their fourth annual DPS event where they discussed "how people from non-marginalized groups can support equity in the scientific community". In the blog entry, the event organizers summarized the discussion and provided action items for those interested in working toward change.

Read more at:

https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2019/01/20/summary-of-dps-2018-planetary-allyship-meeting/

AASWomen Newsletter for January 18, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of January 18, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride

This week's issues:

1. The Importance of Names in Astronomy

2. The AAS Climate Site Visit Program

3. Final Report of the 2018 AAS Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion in Astronomy Graduate Education

4. Shades of U.S.

5. Women who win prizes get less money and prestige

6. Biology Lab Strips James Watson of All Honorary Titles After 'Reprehensible' Race Remarks

7. Mythbusters Jr.'s Tamara Robertson on Getting Girls into STEM Careers

8. Symposium Highlighting Evidence-Based Interventions to Address the Underrepresentation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

9. It's Time to Rethink How You Find a Mentor at Work

10. Girls’ self-confidence falls below that of boys from around age of six – but not if they go to a single-sex school, Australian study finds

11. AI Solves Gender Bias, Puts Overlooked Women Scientists In Spotlight

12. CORRECTION! Save the Date! MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTIONS: America's Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce.

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 of the AASWomen Newsletter

The Importance of Names in Astronomy

Figure from Dr. Grier's Medium article. NASA Photojournal.

Astronomy and Planetary Science are fields with numerous opportunities for naming objects. From the many stars in the sky to the rocks on the surface of Mars, scientists have made many choices about what to call the objects they study. Several recent articles have highlighted the importance of using names that are inclusive and make connections to various cultures.

As Dr. J. A. Grier wrote in her recent Medium article, The Crisis of Naming the Universe: "There are too many awesome names that we can choose from for us to spend one single moment considering a name that hurts anybody at all.  In fact, we can do better than ‘not hurt’ people — we can encourage, lift up, and empower them with our choice of names."

The efforts of many experts who have chosen diverse names have been highlighted in recent articles:

The theme of inclusive naming was also mentioned in Nature's article on the naming of interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua (Hawaiian-language experts make their mark on the Solar System).

The IAU recently recognized the Australian Aboriginal names of four stars in the night sky (The stories behind Aboriginal star names now recognized by the world's astronomical body).

The Symmetry Magazine article, Rivers in the Sky, discusses the naming of some Milky Way star streams after native words relating to water or rivers in Chile and Australia. 

AASWomen Newsletter for January 11, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of January 11, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride

This week's issues:

1. Examining author gender data

2. NASEM Symposium on Women in STEMM

3. Making Waves: 6 Women in Hawaii with Careers in STEM Share Their Stories

4. The Ultimate Women in Science Reading List

5. The US is much less inclusive than it was two years ago. Here's why

6. New measure of equality reveals a fuller picture of male well-being

7. Geena Davis Knows Women Are Good for Hollywood's Bottom Line. So What Gives?

8. When It Comes To Women In STEM Roles, The Results Are Golden

9. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

11. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter