Astronomy

AASWomen for September 9, 2012

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of September 7, 2012
eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy

This week's issues:

1. Invitation to Subscribe to the AASWOMEN Newsletter

2. Gender Bias in Commissioned Articles

3. Woman Physicist of the Month - Lynn Cominsky

4. What Does a Scientist Look Like?

5. Caroline Herschel Biography

6. Mother of Hubble - Nancy Grace Roman

7. DPS Women in Astronomy Discussion Hour

8. Alan T. Waterman Award (NSF)

9. Few Women Recipients of the Alan T. Waterman Award (NSF)

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

1. Invitation to Subscribe to the AASWOMEN Newsletter
From: The Editors [aaswomen_at_aas.org]

The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) strives to create a climate of equal opportunity in hiring, promotion, salary, and in access to research opportunities and infrastructure at all levels within the field of astronomy ranging from undergraduate and graduate programs and then throughout a career in teaching, research, and/or other astronomy-related fields such as public outreach.

AASWOMEN is CSWA's weekly electronic newsletter. As a new academic year begins, we invite you to help us expand our community of readers and contributors. Please forward this issue to any new students, post-docs, and scientists that may be interested.

To subscribe (or unsubscribe):

Join AAS Women List by email: aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org

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

To unsubscribe by email: aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org

Join or leave AASWomen, 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: http://support.google.com/groups/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=46606

2. Gender Bias in Commissioned Articles
From: Neil Gehrels via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

There is an article I found interesting in Nature this week about gender inequity in News and View articles in Nature and Perspectives articles in Science. The article is written by Daniel Conley and Johanna Stadmark of Lunds University in Sweden. They do a statistical analysis in 3 subject areas: biology and chemistry, physical sciences, and Earth amp; Environmental sciences. Their conclusion is that the proportion of women commissioned to write these pieces is quite low.

Here are some of the numbers for Nature?.

To read the numbers, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

3. Woman Physicist of the Month - Lynn Cominsky
From: Steve Maran [steve.maran_at_aas.org]

If you have a few lines of space open in the next Newsletter, you might like to mention that our member amp; former deputy press officer, Lynn Cominsky [of Sonoma State University], was named Woman Physicist of the Month for September 2012 by the American Physical Society- see

http://aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/womanmonth/2012.cfm

Steve

4. What Does a Scientist Look Like?
From: Harley A. Thronson, Harley A. [harley.a.thronson_at_nasa.gov]

Your readers might get a kick out of this fun site, a simple attempt to break stereotypes:

http://lookslikescience.tumblr.com

Harley

5. Caroline Herschel Biography
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]

Nola Taylor Redd has contributed a short biographical review of Caroline Herschel to SPACE.com. To read about Caroline Herschels' discoveries as the first woman to be officially recognized in a scientific position, please see

http://www.space.com/17439-caroline-herschel.html

6. Mother of Hubble - Nancy Grace Roman
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]

Nancy Grace Roman was NASA's first chief of astronomy and is considered the 'mother' of the Hubble Space Telescope. A very nice article on how she carved out a professional career in science as a woman with a PhD at a time when very few women worked outside the home, how she handled negative feedback, and how she became a mentor to young women can be found here:

http://www.voanews.com/content/mother-of-hubble-always-aimed-for-stars--127751383/163252.html

7. Alan T. Waterman Award (NSF)
From: Nancy Morrison [nmorris_at_utnet.utoledo.edu]

The NSF has issued its call for nominations for the 2013 Alan T. Waterman Award. Nominations will be accepted from August 1 through October 31, 2012.

Congress established the Alan T. Waterman Award in August 1975 to mark the 25th Anniversary of the National Science Foundation and to honor its first Director. The annual award recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation. In addition to a medal, the awardee receives a grant of $1,000,000 over a five year period for scientific research or advanced study in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, social, or other sciences at the institution of the recipient's choice.

o Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must be 35 years of age or younger or not more than 7 years beyond receipt of the Ph.D. degree by December 31 of the year in which they are nominated. For example, candidates eligible for the 2011 award must be born on or after 1975, or received their Ph.D. on or after 2003.

o Candidates should have demonstrated exceptional individual achievements in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality to place them at the forefront of their peers. Criteria include originality, innovation, and significant impact on the field.'

To read more: http://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/waterman.jsp

8. Few Women Recipients of the Alan T. Waterman Award (NSF)
From: Association for Women in Science [awis_at_awis.org]

The 2013 Alan T. Waterman Award

http://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/nsf_watermanaward_2013callfornominations_120625.pdf

is the highest honor bestowed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and has recognized outstanding young researchers (within 7 years of receiving the Ph.D. or younger than 36) since 1976.

Awards and prizes play a critical role in shaping and advancing careers, yet women are significantly underrepresented as recipients of awards or prizes for their research. Just take a look at the recipients

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

of the Alan T. Waterman Award. Over the past 36 years, only *FIVE (5)* women have won the prize. The first woman was recognized in 1985, ten years after the award was first created by Congress. It took almost 10 more years for a woman to be recognized again in 1993, even though women constituted 17.1 percent and 27.1 percent of doctoral degree holders

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08308/nsf08308.pdf

in all science, engineering and health fields for those years respectively. The other three female awardees were recognized in 2000, 2003, and 2004. (Interesting. Dr. Rita Colwell, who currently serves on the national board of AWIS

http://awis.org/displayboard.cfm

was the first woman to head NSF serving as Director

http://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/colwell/colwell_bio.jsp

from 1998 to 2004.)

[If you know of a qualified woman that deserved nomination for this prestigious award, please submit her name (see #8 above) -- Eds.]

9. Women in Astornomy Discussion Hour
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]

The Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society will have a Women in Astronomy Discussion Hour on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 from noon-1:30 pm. To pre-register and to learn more about the discussion, please see the last item in the Events list:

http://www.psi.edu/dps12/events.shtml

10. Job Opportunities

- ALMA Postdoctoral Fellow https://careers.nrao.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=50817

- Jansky Fellow https://careers.nrao.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=50830

- University of Mississippi-Oxford Astronomy Instructor/Lecturer http://www.higheredjobs.com/m/details.cfm?JobCode=175658722&Title=Astronomy%20Instructor%2FLecturer

- Tenure/Tenure-Track Position at Lowell Observatory http://www.lowell.edu/about_jobs.php

- Tenure-track position in Astronomy at Gettysburg College http://jobs.diversejobs.net/job/pa/gettysburg/physics-astronomy-tenure-track-A6335-0I61

11. 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.

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

12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org

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

To unsubscribe by email:

aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org

Join or leave AASWomen, 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:

http://support.google.com/groups/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=46606

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

13. 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