Friday, June 10, 2016

AASWomen Newsletter for June 10, 2016

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of June 10, 2016
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Elysse Voyer, & Heather Flewelling

This week's issues:

1. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Data Scientist at a Non-Profit

2. An Unlikely Campaign to Move Beyond GRE Scores

3. Excellent articles about Emmy Noether

4. The Sexism Problem

5. Obstacles facing women of color in tech are steep, and surmountable

6. On the Trail of Women Scientists

7. The career diaries of two women in tech

8. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

10. Access to Past Issues


1. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Data Scientist at a Non-Profit
From: Stuart Vogel 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. Below is our interview with Erin Grand, an astronomer turned data scientist at a non-profit organization.

Read more at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2016/06/career-profiles-astronomer-to-data.html

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2. An Unlikely Campaign to Move Beyond GRE Scores
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry_at_yale.edu]

by Scott Jaschik

For years, the GRE has faced criticism over its role in the admission of graduate students. Various studies have suggested that departments rely too heavily on the GRE and as a result end up minimizing the chances that they will admit female, black and Latino applicants. And failing to admit more of such applicants may well doom efforts to diversify the faculties of many colleges. Now, a new campaign is about to begin to encourage graduate departments to stop focusing as much as they have been on GRE scores. The campaign is going to be led by the Educational Testing Service, which produces the GRE, among other tests.

Read more

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/06/ets-plans-encourage-graduate-departments-de-emphasize-gre

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3. Excellent articles about Emmy Noether
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry_at_yale.edu]

A comprehensive account of her life: http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/05/the-female-mathematician-who-changed-the-course-of-physics-but-couldnt-get-a-job/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6/2/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All

Albert Einstein’s obituary in the NY Times, when she died unexpectedly at age 53: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Obits2/Noether_Emmy_Einstein.html

A eulogy by Hermann Weyl: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Extras/Weyl_Noether.html

Another fine history: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Noether_Emmy.html

Finally, the Google doodle from last March: https://www.google.com/doodles/emmy-noethers-133rd-birthday

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4. The Sexism Problem
From: Christine Pulliam [cpulliam_at_cfa.harvard.edu]

by Margaret Wertheim

Harassment drove me out of physics 30 years ago and little has changed. Why is scientific sexism so intractable?

In the final months of my physics degree, one of my professors asked me into his office – an exciting prospect, given that I assumed we’d be discussing subjects for my potential honours theses. He closed the door, invited me to sit, and declared he’d fallen in love. He wanted to have an affair, he said, and if I couldn’t share in that plan he couldn’t continue as my advisor – he’d find my presence ‘too distracting’. He was a senior academic, and married; but this was Australia in the late 1970s and the subject of sexual harassment wasn’t on any university radar. It seemed this was just one of life’s inequities, another hurdle facing being a woman in science. So I made the decision to leave physics – a subject I loved – and in the following academic year switched to computer science at a different university.

Read more at

https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-scientific-sexism-so-intractably-resistant-to-reform

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5. Obstacles facing women of color in tech are steep, and surmountable
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

by Tani Brown

The uphill climb for minorities in the technology industry has been well-documented. The same goes for the challenges and underrepresentation that women in technology face. For women of color, the environment can be doubly challenging. The headlines suggest that my black female peers in technology and I will not only encounter gender stereotyping, but also the cultural biases that too often pervade work environments that are historically, primarily white.

Read more at

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2016/06/06/obstacles-for-women-of-color-in-tech-diversity-silicon-valley-guest-column/83209938

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6. On the Trail of Women Scientists
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

by Supriya Sharma

You might see her the next time you hit the highway: a woman driving a 1999 model Maruti Omni. She looks quite ordinary at first sight, but actually, she’s out to slay a dragon. Since this is the 21st century, the dragon 29-year-old Aashima Dogra wants to destroy is not a creature whose death will have PETA baying for her blood. Dogra, a science writer, aims to destroy the dragon of gender bias in science. This is why she and Nandita Jayaraj, her 27-year-old partner and fellow science writer at The Life of Science project, are travelling around the country, going to all sorts of labs and institutions, from the well-known to the never-heard-of, seeking women scientists whose research they can publicise.

Read more at

http://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/on-the-trail-of-women-scientists/story-JK7QDj6L5T70kr3mjO6D8L.html

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7. The career diaries of two women in tech
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

by Clare McDonald

In this contributed blog post, two women at differed points in their careers describe their experiences persuing a career in the tech industry. Ritu Mahandru, vice-president of application delivery at CA Technologies, and general business intern at CA Technologies, Annabel Sunnucks, discuss their jobs, aspirations and what their paths have been like so far.

Read more at

http://www.computerweekly.com/blog/WITsend/The-career-diaries-of-two-women-in-tech

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8. 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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9. 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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10. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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