Astronomy

AASWomen for May 24, 2013

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of May 24, 2013
eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy

This week's issues:

1. CSWA Town Hall at the Indianapolis AAS Meeting

2. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Math Teacher

3. APS Topical Group on Physics Education Research

4. Exploring Industry Options and Informational Interviews

5. How to Be a 'Woman Programmer'

6. ADVICE: Dealing with Discrimination and Harassment

7. 6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism

8. Maria Goeppert Mayer Award for Women in Physics

9. Deadline Approaching for the 2013 Blewett Fellowship

10. NSF's Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative

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

1. CSWA Town Hall at the Indianapolis AAS Meeting
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]

CSWA Town Hall: Unconscious Bias, Stereotype Threat, and Impostor Syndrome AAS 222nd Meeting, Indianapolis, IN Tuesday, June 4 12:45 PM - 1:45 PM; Wabash Ballroom 3 (Indiana Convention Center)

Women and other underrepresented groups in astronomy can face a powerful combination of hidden obstacles. With unconscious bias, men and women both unconsciously devalue the contributions of women. This can have a detrimental effect on grant proposals, job applications, and performance reviews. Stereotype threat is the anxiety women face in a situation where they have the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about women as a group. This anxiety alone can result in documented cases of lower scores on standardized math tests. Highly competent women may also face impostor syndrome where they find it impossible to believe in their own competence. They live with a fear of being discovered. The CSWA Town Hall at the Indianapolis AAS meeting will discuss these issues in the context of the AAUW report entitled, "Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics." The Town Hall will include at least 30 minutes for discussion and answering questions from the audience.

2. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Math Teacher
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.

This week's interview is with Andy Cantrell, an astronomer turned math teacher. After his first postdoc, he worked with a recruiting agency for private schools to find his new position. He describes his working environment as 'warm and supportive, and extremely family friendly'.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/05/career-profiles-astronomer-to-math.html

3. APS Topical Group on Physics Education Research
From: WIPHYS Posting for May 13, 2013

2013 Topical Group on Physics Education Research: APS?s newest unit for advancing the learning and teaching of physics

The objective of the Topical Group on Physics Education Research (GPER) is the advancement and diffusion of knowledge concerning the learning and teaching of physics. This knowledge is based on studies ranging from individuals to institutional practices, from neural and cognitive processes to social and contextual components of education, from basic research to educational practices in physics. The objectives of this research include the integration of scientific knowledge and analysis methods across disciplines to address the dynamical complexities and uncertainties of learning and teaching physics.

Learn more here

http://www.aps.org/units/gper/index.cfm

4. Exploring Industry Options and Informational Interviews
From: Claire Cramer [ccramer108_at_gmail.com]

A recent post from the Wandering Scientist blog:

I'm stretching the original definition of the "Ask Cloud" series a bit with this post, but since it was my own arbitrary definition to begin with, I think that's OK. I have found myself typing out advice about how to look into different industry options and related advice about how to organize and conduct informational interviews several times recently, so I thought I'd combine it all into one post. I don't have a single query email to include, but roughly speaking, here is a composite question:

"I'm finishing up graduate school/my postdoc and am considering going into industry. I don't really know what options are out there in industry for someone with my background. What do I do?"

To read more, please see

http://www.wandering-scientist.com/2013/05/ask-cloud-exploring-industry-options.html

5. How to Be a 'Woman Programmer'
From: Gerrit Verschuur [verschuur_at_aol.com]

By Ellen Ullman

There is always that moment when you are alone with the prejudice: the joke, the leer, the disregard, the fact that the moment you walk through the door you are seen as lesser.

To read more, please see

http://nyti.ms/18SH6zs

6. ADVICE: Dealing with Discrimination and Harassment
From: Joan Schmelz and Patricia Knezek [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu; knezek_at_noao.edu]

This is the third in our new series of ADVICE posts as CSWA tries to ensure that information gathered over the years remains available to the current generation of students, postdocs, and faculty. This month, we try to deal with discrimination and harassment:

The good news for women in astronomy is that incidents of overt sexual discrimination and sexual harassment have declined dramatically in recent years. The bad news is that there are still problems, especially for grad students and post docs. Sometimes we don't realize that these problems are still out there until something happens to us or to someone we know personally.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/05/advice-dealing-with-discrimination-and.html

7. 6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism
From: Rick Fienberg [rick.fienberg_at_aas.org]

By Jane J. Lee

Despite enormous progress in recent decades, women still have to deal with biases against them in the sciences.

To read more, please see

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130519-women-scientists-overlooked-dna-history-science

8. Maria Goeppert Mayer Award for Women in Physics
From: WIPHYS Posting for May 13, 2013

Nominate an outstanding woman physicist for the Maria Goeppert Mayer Award: Deadline is July 1

The Maria Goeppert Mayer Award is designed to recognize and enhance outstanding achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career, and to provide opportunities for her to present these achievements to others through public lectures in the spirit of Maria Goeppert Mayer. The award consists of $2,500 plus a $4,000 travel allowance to provide opportunities for the recipient to give lectures in her field of physics at four institutions and at the meeting of the Society at which the award is bestowed and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient.

More details are available at

go.aps.org/mgmaward

9. Deadline Approaching for the 2013 Blewett Fellowship
From: WIPHYS Posting for May 22, 2013

The Blewett Fellowship enables women to return to physics research careers after having had to interrupt those careers. Applications are due June 1, 2013.

Learn more and apply here

http://www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/blewett/index.cfm

10. NSF's Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative
From: WIPHYS Posting for May 13, 2013

In NSF 12-065 entitled "Dear Colleague Letter: Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative", the Foundation announced the opportunity to submit supplemental funding requests to support additional personnel (e.g., research technicians or equivalent) to sustain research when the Principal Investigator is on family leave. In FY 2012, up to 3 months of salary support may be requested (for a maximum of $12,000 in salary compensation) by CAREER awardees.

To learn more, please see

http://www.nsf.gov/career-life-balance/suppfunds.jsp

11. 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

* Instructor, Department of Physics amp; Astronomy, Northern Arizona University http://hr.nau.edu/node/2796&job_req=600330

12. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_aas.org

All material will be posted unless you tell us otherwise, including your email address.

When submitting a job posting for inclusion in the newsletter, please include a one-line description and a link to the full job posting.

Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.

13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

Send email to aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have subscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

Be sure to follow the instructions in the confirmation email. (Just reply back to the email list)

To unsubscribe by email:

Send email to aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have UNsubscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

To join or leave AASWomen via web, or change your membership settings:

https://groups.google.com/a/aas.org/group/aaswlist

You will have to create a Google Account if you do not already have one, using

https://accounts.google.com/newaccount?hl=en

Google Groups Subscribe Help:

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14. Access to Past Issues

http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

- Aas Women For October 25, 2013
AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of October 25, 2013eds: Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner This week's issues: 1. The Career-Life Beer Hour2. Unearned Advantage3. Raising the Bar in Physics Graduate...

- Aaswomen For July 5th, 2013
AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of July 5, 2013 eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, & Nick Murphy This week's issues: 1. Dear Postdoc Colleague: Yes, the NSF is Serious About Career-Life Balance2....

- Aaswomen For April 5, 2013
AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of April 5, 2013 eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy This week's issues: 1. Sexual Harassment at Astronomical Observatories2. List of Women Astronomers3. Science Journalism...

- Aaswomen For March 29, 2013
AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy Issue of March 29, 2013 eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy This week's issues: 1. Mind the Gender Gap2. Lipsticks and Labcoats3. Women Faculty: Hiring & Retention4....

- Aaswomen For February 22, 2013
AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy Issue of February 22, 2013 eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy This week's issues: 1. STATUS newsletter for January 2013 now available online2. Annie Jump Cannon...

Astronomy