Friday, August 9, 2013

AASWomen for August 9, 2013

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 9, 2013
eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner

This week's issues:

1. What Can I Do? Make Women Feel Like They Belong

2. Comebacks for Sexist Remarks in Academia

3. 2 Careers, 2 Kids, 1 Marriage: Part 2

4. For Female Scientists, There's No Good Time to Have Children

5. Wikipedia Edit-a-thon to Inspire Women Scientists

6. Perseid Meteorwatch 2013

7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter


1. What Can I Do? Make Women Feel Like They Belong
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Today's suggestion comes from CSWA alum, Caroline Simpson. Caroline is an associate professor at Florida International University. She works on star formation and evolution in dwarf galaxies. She is also a long-time editor of AASWOMEN, CSWA’s weekly e-newsletter.]

One of the ways to help members of underrepresented groups succeed professionally is to indicate clearly that they are already part of the 'club.' Subtle things can help with this and are easy to do. Here is an idea regarding women in astronomy, but it can be extended to any underrepresented group:

Make sure that there are visible images that women are and have been important contributors to the field, and that your department or workplace recognizes that.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-can-i-do-make-women-feel-like-they.html

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2. Comebacks for Sexist Remarks in Academia
From: Alessondra Springmann [asteroid_at_alum.mit.edu]

This link came down the pipeline today, offering suggestions of curt responses to blatantly sexist (or racist) remarks questioning whether someone was admitted to a program based on gender or race.

http://captainawkward.com/2013/07/28/495-snarky-comebacks-for-sexists-in-academia

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3. 2 Careers, 2 Kids, 1 Marriage: Part 2
From: Neil Gehrels via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

Last week I wrote how my wife, Ellen, and I met in the graduate dorm at Caltech, got married, managed to complete our PhDs on the same month and land a pair of jobs. This year, the difficulties (and pleasures!) of simultaneous young kids and young careers.

After advancing from postdocs to real jobs at UMd (Ellen) and Goddard (Neil), it was time to have kids. That sounds easy since people have been doing it since the beginning of time, but the difficulty was combining it with teaching, starting research, starting groups, publishing, traveling to conferences, tenure clock, …. Plus major rebuilding of a large dilapidated Victorian house we bought in College Park.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/08/2-careers-2-kids-1-marriage-part-2.html

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4. For Female Scientists, There's No Good Time to Have Children
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

by Nicholas H. Wolfinger

That's why so many drop out of the field. Here's how to make the system more fair for women in academia.

American women are leaving academic science, including the social sciences, in alarming numbers. Many will turn away from science while still in graduate school. Although women obtain more than half of the baccalaureate degrees in the sciences, they receive only 46 percent of the doctorates. Others will drop out of the science pipeline after receiving their Ph.D.s, or when they come up for tenure.

To read more, please see

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/07/for-female-scientists-theres-no-good-time-to-have-children/278165

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5. Wikipedia Edit-a-thon to Inspire Women Scientists
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

A Wikipedia blitz has been held to boost the profiles of female scientists and inspire young women today to follow in their footsteps.

Prof Athene Donald, professor of experimental physics at Cambridge University, gave a talk at the edit-a-thon, which saw an army of new and seasoned Wikipedia editors improve articles about female scientists.

To read more, please see

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Education/Universities/Wikipedia-edit-a-thon-to-inspire-women-scientists-20130730060000.htm

and the event's official website

http://www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk/events/mrcroyal-societywikimedia-uk-women-in-science-wikipedia-edit-a-thons

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6. Perseid Meteorwatch 2013
From: Amy Rose via Facebook.com

[There's nothing like backyard astronomy to inspire young people (and old!) about STEM. If you're not camping this weekend, don't have a backyard, or are swamped by city lights, here's another way to enjoy the Perseids. -Eds]

The Perseid Meteorwatch 2013 starts on Saturday the 10th and runs each evening until Monday the 12th of August 2013. @VirtualAstro with the help of many more people, will be holding a Twitter #Meteorwatch for the Perseid Meteor Shower.

Everyone is welcome to join in, whether they are an astronomer, have a slight interest in the night sky or have a passing interest and just wonder?

To learn more, visit

http://www.meteorwatch.org

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7. 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.

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8. 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:

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

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9. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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