Astronomy

AASWomen for September 28, 2012

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of September 28, 2012
eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy

This week's issues:

1. Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds

2. Zen and the Art of Astronomy Research

3. Tips for Conducting Astronomy Outreach

4. Gender Inequality in Deliberative Participation

5. 3 Ways to Tell Girls How Cool Science Is

6. FYI: Why Do Girls Throw Like A Girl?

7. Why Men Fail

8. Awards and Funding Opportunities

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

1. Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds
From: Rick Fienberg [rick.fienberg_at_aas.org] and Kathy Eastwood [kathy.eastwood_at_nau.edu]

[Several readers brought this study to our attention. Below are a few links to get you started. -Eds]

According to the New York Times, "Researchers found that university science professors widely regard female students as less competent than male ones." The full article is here:

http://nyti.ms/UMhu0c

Cosmic Variance Post by Sean Carroll:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/09/19/scientists-your-gender-bias-is-showing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CosmicVariance+%28Cosmic+Variance%29

The original study in PNAS (requires a subscription):

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/14/1211286109

2. Zen and the Art of Astronomy Research
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Guest-post by John Johnson, professor of Astronomy in the Caltech Department of Astrophysics. His research is on the detection and characterization of exoplanets. This post is a re-post from astrobites. With the start of a new academic year, his career-life advice seemed particularly timely and useful. Read on!]

I had the pleasure of visiting the Harvard Center for Astrophysics back in February when I stopped through to give a colloquium. One of the CfA traditions is for the graduate students to treat the speaker to lunch. So on the day of my talk I hung out in a classroom with about two dozen graduate students where we munched on pizza and talked about everything from the difficulty of measuring stellar radial velocities at 1 m/s precision, to advice about applying for postdoctoral fellowships, to what it?s like to be a professor.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

3. Tips for Conducting Astronomy Outreach
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Julia Kamenetzky is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her research focuses on extragalactic submillimeter spectroscopy with Z-Spec and Herschel. She is active in CU?s Women in Astronomy group and is the recent winner of the CU Boulder Graduate School?s Dorothy Martin Doctoral Student Award for a student active in women?s issues.]

Role models are critically important for encouraging young people to pursue science and math careers, especially young girls. Astronomy is in a unique position because space is an incredibly interesting and awe-inspiring topic for the general public, yet most people don?t have a good understanding of what astronomers do. As I mentioned in a previous guest blog post, I recently started working with an afterschool STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) program for elementary school girls.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

4. Gender Inequality in Deliberative Participation
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

[A study in the American Political Science Review that considers the impact of women's participation in group decision-making. -Eds]

Can men and women have equal levels of voice and authority in deliberation or does deliberation exacerbate gender inequality? Does increasing women's descriptive representation in deliberation increase their voice and authority? ... We find a substantial gender gap in voice and authority, but as hypothesized, it disappears under unanimous rule and few women, or under majority rule and many women. Deliberative design can avoid inequality by fitting institutional procedure to the social context of the situation.

To read more, please see

https://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8675859&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0003055412000329

5. 3 Ways to Tell Girls How Cool Science Is
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

[This post by Kristina Chew describes three projects to attract girls to science, including WitsOn!, which was featured on the Women in Astronomy Blog on September 20, 2012. -Eds]

"I would have gone into science." A student, a humanities major, once said these words to me as we talked about her post-college plans. It was only midway through college that she had learned that the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields offer so many possibilities for careers. I gathered that her high school had not encouraged the study of science, at least among girls.

Here are three ways that scientists, engineers and women in the tech world are seeking to ensure that girls don?t find themselves with such regrets.

To read more, please see

http://www.care2.com/causes/3-great-ideas-girls-science.html

6. FYI: Why Do Girls Throw Like A Girl?
From: Kelley M. Hess [hess_at_astro.wisc.edu]

[Another take on the nature-vs-nuture debate. -Eds]

Tagline: The genders are more alike than they are different, with one notable exception.

You don't need to look any further than last week's news cycle to see proof that a girl can throw a ball: Erin DiMeglio, the first female quarterback to play high school football in Florida, made a splash by taking a spot on her team. But some research indicates it's an uphill battle.

To read more, please see

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-09/fyi-do-men-and-women-throw-ball-differently

7. Why Men Fail
From: Joan T Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]

[An opinion piece by David Brooks about the traits needed for professional success and how they may be changing from "favoring" men to "favoring" women. -Eds]

You?re probably aware of the basic trends. The financial rewards to education have increased over the past few decades, but men failed to get the memo.

To read more, please see

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/brooks-why-men-fail.html?emc=eta1

8. Awards and Funding Opportunities
From: AWIS Washington Wire September 2012 - Issue II

* 2013 NSF Alan T. Waterman Award Call for Nominations

http://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/waterman.jsp

* Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences at University of Nebraska - Lincoln

http://wophy.unl.edu/info.shtml

* ADVANCE Program Solicitation

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12584/nsf12584.htm

* Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellowship

http://nsfsbir.asee.org

* NSF's Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative

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

* Opportunity for Scientists to Collaborate with European Colleagues

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=124845&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

* The Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Program

http://www.facultyforthefuture.net

9. Job Opportunities

* Two Assistant Professor Positions, Physical Sciences (including Astrophysics), UC San Diego

Note a specific emphasis on contributions to diversity, including awareness of inequities faced by underrepresented groups, a demonstrated track record in mentoring, teaching, or outreach aimed at underrepresented groups, and/or specific plans to contribute to diversity.

http://careers.physicstoday.org/jobs#/detail/4878128

* Tenure Track Faculty Position in Theoretical Astrophysics, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland College Park

http://jobs.umd.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=57797

* Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Middlebury College Department of Physics (emphasis in Observational Astronomy/Astrophysics)

http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/administration/employment/phys_tt

* Two Tenure-track Faculty Positions in Astronomy/Astrophysics at Ohio University

http://www.nsbp.org/en/jobs/v/980

* Assistant Professor of Physics at Agnes Scott College

http://www.agnesscott.edu/employment/faculty-openings/physics-professor.html

* Assistant/Associate Project Scientist Position, UC Berkeley

http://astro.berkeley.edu/resources/jobs/project-scientist.html

* National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program

http://www.nsfgrfp.org

* Marie Curie Fellowship

http://www.caroline-angelard.com/marie-curie-fellowship.php

10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

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

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11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

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12. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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Astronomy