AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of June 20, 2014
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, Michele Montgomery, & Caroline Simpson
This week's issues:
1. CSWA Membership
2. Helen Mason Honored
3. Encounter with a Serial Harasser
4. Gender Equity Summit in Science Writing
5. Career Profiles in Astronomy: Astronomer to Science Communicator
6. “Unheard Voices: Women in Astronomy” Resource Guide
7. On Hiring: Mothers in Academe
8. George E. Pake Prize
9. Join APS CUWiP on LinkedIn
10. Information Request
11. APS Speakers List Featuring Women and Minorities
12. IPAC Visiting Graduate Student Fellowship 2015
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
1. CSWA Membership
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]
I would like to introduce the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy for 2014-15:
Edmund Bertschinger (2010 - 2016)
David Charbonneau (2011 - 2017) Neil Gehrels (2012 - 2015)
Daryl Haggard (2014 - 2017)
Meredith Hughes (2012 - 2015)
John Johnson (2013 - 2016)
Jessica Kirkpatrick (2012 - 2015)
Nancy Morrison (2010 - 2016)
Christina Richey (2014 - 2017)
Joan Schmelz (2004 - 2015); chair
Caroline Simpson (2014 - 2015)
Nicolle Zellner (2012 - 2015)
New member, Daryl Haggard, has been serving as an editor of AASWOMEN and is now stepping up to the Senior Editor position. We’d like to thank departing editors Michele Montgomery and Nick Murphy for their work on AASWOMEN.
New member, Christina Richey, just wrote her first post for the WIA blog. By our standards, it ‘went viral’ with >1000 views.
Caroline Simpson has kindly agreed to return to CSWA to fill a one-year vacancy.
Just in case you have not heard, long-time CSWA member and former Blogger-in-Chief, Laura Trouille, and her husband, Aaron Geller, just had a baby girl, Hannah. Congratulations to Laura and Aaron. I am sure they are already showing baby Hannah how to reach for the stars!
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2. Helen Mason Honored
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]
Dr. Helen E. Mason was awarded the Order Of The British Empire, "For services to Higher Education and to Women in Science, Engineering and Technology." Helen holds the position of Reader in Solar Physics at the University of Cambridge. Her research group has an international reputation for excellence in the field of solar physics with particular expertise on the analysis of the UV and X-ray spectrum from the solar atmosphere. The group carries out both theoretical simulations and observational analysis. Helen has been involved in many solar space missions including Skylab, Solar Maximum Mission, and the Solar Heliospheric Observatory. She is also a founding member of CHIANTI - an atomic database for the analysis of astrophysical spectra. She has an integrated approach to modeling solar physics phenomena, by linking theoretical models with atomic physics models to predict the observational characteristics. Congratulations, Helen!
For more, please see:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/13/queens-birthday-honours-obe
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3. Encounter with a Serial Harasser
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Anonymous 2 describes her creepy encounter with one of Astronomy's most notorious sexual harassers. Her identity is protected.
Read more at: http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/06/encounter-with-serial-harasser.html
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4. Gender Equity Summit in Science Writing
From: Ed Bertschinger via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
This Weekend I attended part of the Science Writing Summit 2014 #SciWriSum14 #sciwrisummit, an inspiring gathering of science writers to advance the status of women in this profession. The program was action-oriented, with break-out sessions reporting to the plenary and producing a great list of action items for the group to continue working on during the coming months. The most prominent deliverable was the draft of a Bill of Rights for Science Writers that would call on employers to ensure equal opportunity for all journalists regardless of gender, race, national origin, sexual identity, age and religion, and to commit to high standards of ethics and professional conduct. All of us can learn from these ideas and conversations.
Read more at: http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/06/gender-equity-summit-in-science-writing.html
Read an article on the Summit itself at: http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/science_writing_rebranding_fem.php
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5. Career Profiles in Astronomy: Astronomer to Science Communicator
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of 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 Rick Fienberg, an astronomer turned AAS Press Officer and Director of Communications. After his first postdoc, he worked at Sky amp; Telescope for over 20 years before taking on his role at the AAS in 2009.
Read more about this person’s experiences at:
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/06/career-profiles-astronomer-to-science.html
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6. “Unheard Voices: Women in Astronomy” Resource Guide
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry_at_yale.edu]
A very useful compilation of information:
A new guide by Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill College) is now available for Astro 101 instructors (and other educators) on the issues that have faced women in astronomy, and the work of some of the women who can serve as role models for the next generation.
Part of a series called “Unheard Voices,” this guide is now available at: http://multiverse.ssl.berkeley.edu/women in both HTML and PDF formats.
Sponsored by the Heliophysics Forum of the Space Missions Directorate at NASA, the guide includes written, on-line, and audio-visual materials, many of which can be used directly in the classroom or for student papers. It features sections on: the history of women in astronomy in general, materials on selected women astronomers of the past, issues facing women in astronomy today, and materials on selected contemporary women astronomers. It is 13 pages long as a PDF.
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7. On Hiring: Mothers in Academe
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
The Chronicle of Higher Education is writing a series of articles on pregnancy, motherhood, and academy. The June 16 article is on "Should You Have a Baby in Graduate School?" The June 17th article is on the myth of "The Perfect Academic Baby" and the June 18th article is on "Are Children Career Killers?"
To read these articles, please see
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/549-should-you-have-a-baby-in-graduate-school?cid=oh&utm_source=oh&utm_medium=en
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8. George E. Pake Prize
From: WiPHYS, June 16, 2014
The George E. Pake Prize is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in physics, including astrophysics, research combined with major success as a manager of research or development in industry. If you know someone that fits the description please consider submitting a nomination! The prize consists of $5,000, an allowance for travel to the meeting at which the prize is to be awarded, and a certificate recognizing the contribution of the recipient. Don’t hesitate to contact the prize selection committee or APS Honors Program (honors_at_aps.com) for questions or assistance. Submit your nomination by July 1, 2014.
Prize website:
http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/pake.cfm
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9. Join APS CUWiP on LinkedIn
From: WIPHYS for June 16, 2014
The APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) have their own LinkedIn page to help connect participants to one another and share news about the conferences. Join here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Conference-Undergraduate-Women-in-Physics-4439529
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10. Information Request
From: Sera Markoff via Diversity in Physics and Astronomy Facebook page
Sera Markoff is interested in finding good sources for statistics on how things have changed for women in STEM fields in the past 20+ years worldwide, and what skill-sets are important.
You can email her at s.b.markoff_at_uva.nl or reply to the newsletter - this would be interesting information for many people.
[We have already pointed her at aip.org/statistics for the U.S. — eds.]
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11. APS Speakers List Featuring Women and Minorities
From: WIPHYS for June 16, 2014
Planning a colloquium series and want to include a minority or female speaker? Check out the APS Speakers List! The lists contain names, contact information, and talk titles of physicists who are willing to give talks on a variety of subjects. Check it out here: http://www.aps.org/programs/women/speakers/index.cfm
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12. IPAC Visiting Graduate Student Fellowship 2015
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
Six-month (nominally January - July 2015) graduate student fellowship applications are now available for the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) at Caltech. Graduate students from other U.S. or international institutions can apply to visit IPAC-Caltech and perform astronomical research with an IPAC scientist. Eligible applicants are expected to have completed preliminary graduate program course work and are expected to be available for research during the period of the award. Deadline for submission is September 1, 2014.
For more information please see
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/community/GraduateFellowship
or contact the program coordinator, Dr. Rafael Millan-Gabet, at r.millan.gabet_at_caltech.edu.
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13. Job Opportunities
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:
http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease
* University of Maryland, Coordinator of Physics Education Initiatives, outreach and Inclusion https://ejobs.umd.edu/postings/26024
* APS seeks a science writing intern http://www.aps.org/about/jobs/index.cfm
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