Astronomy

AASWomen Newsletter for December 13, 2013

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of December 13, 2013
eds: Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner

This week's issues:

1. Childcare at the 2014 AAS Winter Meeting

2. Is science is in the eye of the beholder? [Hint: NO]

3. ADVICE: Workplace Bullying in Astronomy III

4. Gender Progress(?)

5. NSF's Career-Life Balance Initiative: A Small Success Story

6. Factors that affect the physical science career interest of female students

7. Stephanie Slater is the December CSWP Woman Physicist of the Month

8. Women in Science: Standing on the Edge

9. The Huffington Post's Girls in STEM Mentorship Program

10. New Email List: Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics

11. 2014 Katherine Weimer Award

12. 2014 Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week's First-to-Solo Challenge

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

1. Childcare at the 2014 AAS Winter Meeting
From: Kelly Clark [kelly.clark_at_aas.org]

The AAS has contracted with KiddieCorp for childcare services at the upcoming winter meeting. The registration deadline has been extended to December 20th, and the KiddieCorp registration link is

https://www.kiddiecorp.com/aaskids.htm

AAS Childcare Grant applicants were notified earlier this week; if you are still awaiting information on your childcare grant, please contact Kelly Clark, AAS Chief Finance Officer, at the email address above.

Kelly is also soliciting your opinions about the childcare options at AAS meetings. Do you have thoughts on the childcare services that the AAS provides? Do you have thoughts on how the AAS can better share information about these services? Please contact Kelly directly if you would like to share your input and/or experiences.

Thank you for taking time to respond to these inquires. Childcare has been and will continue to be a concern of the AAS Council.

2. Is science is in the eye of the beholder? [Hint: NO]
From: John Johnson via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

This week we have another guest post by Renee Hlozek, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University. Take it away, Renee!

We all have bias. If you think you don't, try this eye-opening test on implicit bias from Project Implicit. It'll make you think.

But while we're getting much better on average at identifying obvious forms of bias and sexism (at least I feel there is forward momentum!), one form of sexism is much more subtle: benevolent sexism. Rather than just giving a definition of the term, I'm going to try and relate what happened to me as an example and explain how this well-meaning person made me so angry and frustrated that I had to take a few (many) moments away from my colleagues to calm myself.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/12/is-science-is-in-eye-of-beholder-hint-no.html#more

3. ADVICE: Workplace Bullying in Astronomy III
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

This is the final post in a series on workplace bullying. It is about the delicious fantasies of revenge. Remember the old adage, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." This tells us that the best payback is the one that comes with planning. Revenge can be sweet (and tempting!), but be careful. If you are in a position to plan revenge, make sure that your scheme will not backfire and put you in an even worse situation. Here are a few sweet revenge stories from a great reference on workplace bullying entitled, "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't" by Robert I. Sutton.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/12/advice-workplace-bullying-in-astronomy.html

4. Gender Progress(?)
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]

The proportions of women scientists in Nature and as referees are still too low even though some success has been made in visibility of women in the pages of Nature.

To read more on Nature's house cleaning, please see

http://www.nature.com/news/gender-progress-1.14334?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20131212

5. NSF's Career-Life Balance Initiative: A Small Success Story
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

Guest Post: The below post was submitted anonymously by an astronomy post-doc.

I recently was in one of those exciting conversations with an NSF Program Officer in which s/he is providing feedback from the review panel that is suggestive that your grant has been approved for funding given a few minor tweaks.

Then the bomb dropped. NSF would like the start date to be in the coming few months and the program to launch this summer. *PANIC. I am a post doc just ending the first trimester of my first pregnancy, I haven't yet told my advisor who is also on the phone, and I am due at the start of the summer, exactly when the NSF would like for the program to launch.*

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/12/nsfs-career-life-balance-initiative.html

6. Factors that affect the physical science career interest of female students
From: Beatrice Bonga [b.p.bonga_at_gmail.com]

[An interesting article published in the American Physical Society's "Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research" by Hazari et al. -eds]

Factors that affect the physical science career interest of female students: Testing five common hypotheses

There are many hypotheses regarding factors that may encourage female students to pursue careers in the physical sciences. Using multivariate matching methods on national data drawn from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project (n=7505), we test the following five commonly held beliefs regarding what factors might impact females? physical science career interest: (i) having a single-sex physics class, (ii) having a female physics teacher, (iii) having female scientist guest speakers in physics class, (iv) discussing the work of female scientists in physics class, and (v) discussing the underrepresentation of women in physics class. The effect of these experiences on physical science career interest is compared for female students who are matched on several factors, including prior science interests, prior mathematics interests, grades in science, grades in mathematics, and years of enrollment in high school physics. No significant effects are found for single-sex classes, female teachers, female scientist guest speakers, and discussing the work of female scientists. However, discussions about women?s underrepresentation have a significant positive effect.

To read more, please

http://prst-per.aps.org/abstract/PRSTPER/v9/i2/e020115

7. Stephanie Slater is the December CSWP Woman Physicist of the Month
From: WIPHYS Posting for Dec 09, 2013

Stephanie J. Slater is a physics & astronomy education researcher who has been innovating in astronomy teaching and learning for nearly twenty years. Dr. Slater is the Executive Director of the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research where her scholarship focuses on understanding the underlying cognitive mechanisms undergraduates use when engaging in the physics and astronomy. She is deeply interested in how undergraduate students and future teachers approach and engage in science.

To learn more, please see

http://www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/womanmonth/2013.cfm

8. Women in Science: Standing on the Edge
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

By Adele Gulfo, President, Pfizer Latin America

Although spending declined this Black Friday weekend as compared with 2012, 141 million people -- about 2 million more than last year -- shopped both online and in stores, according to a survey commissioned by the National Retail Federation.

With the holiday shopping season clearly in full swing, an online ad for GoldieBlox, a startup toy company that sells games and books designed to introduce engineering basics to girls, recently went viral. The ad caught my attention -- and that of the millions of others who have since viewed it -- for a few reasons.

To read more, please see

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adele-gulfo/women-in-science-standing_b_4385713.html

9. The Huffington Post's Girls in STEM Mentorship Program
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

[An editor's note in the above article pointed to this program, which may be of interest to our community. -eds]

Join the Huffington Post's Girls in STEM Mentorship Program to explore a discussion of STEM education and careers, the issues facing women in STEM, and what it takes to be a mentor to females in these fields.

Here's the home page for the program

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/girls-in-stem

The sign up for their newsletter can be found here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/girls-in-stem-newsletter_n_3614271.html?utm_hp_ref=girls-in-stem

And here's an early announcement, with more details on joining the effort

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-searles/stem-mentorship-program_b_2288918.html

10. New Email List: Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics
From: WIPHYS Posting for Dec 09, 2013

A new email list has been created to share news, announcements, and deadlines related to the Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics. To join the list, email women_at_aps.org with the subject "Subscription to CUWiP email list".

11. 2014 Katherine Weimer Award
From: WIPHYS Posting for Dec 09, 2013

The Weimer award is open to any female plasma scientist who received her Ph.D. within the ten-year period prior to April 1, 2014. Nominations are active for one selection cycle (three years). The award consists of $2,000 and funds for travel to the annual meeting where the award is to be presented. The recipient will be invited to give a talk at the Division?s annual meeting.

Deadline is April 1, 2014.

Details are available here

http://www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/katherineweimer.cfm

12. 2014 Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week's First-to-Solo Challenge
From: Matthew Greenhouse [matthew.a.greenhouse_at_nasa.gov]

The Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide is delighted to announce that one of its founding members, Sennheiser, will award $1,500 USD for flight training to the winner of the 2014 Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week?s First-to-Solo Challenge.

Any girl or woman, anywhere around the world, who goes on a discovery flight during the 2014 Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week, March 3-9 2014, may be eligible to win the prize.

To learn more, please see

http://www.womenofaviationweek.org/blog/first-solo-challenge-grand-prize-1500-usd-training/article-5770

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

* Visiting Scientists in Astrophysics at NASA HQ, Washington, D.C. http://jobregister.aas.org/job_view?JobID=46612

* Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at Hofstra University http://www.higheredjobs.com/search/details.cfm?JobCode=175830648

* Staff Scientist - Soft X-ray Optics Development and Implementation https://lbl.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=76377

14. 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

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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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15. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

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16. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].

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