Issue of July 5, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, and Hannah Jang-Condell
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. –eds.]
This week’s issues:
1. 4th of July Stars of All Stripes
2. New Observatory Opens in the Young Country of Kosovo
3. One Size Does Not Fit All
4. Survey on Diversity and Inclusion in Astrobiology
5. Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for the Space Sector
6. SciWomen Origin Stories: Fantastic Graphic Journeys of World-Changing Scientists
7. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues
An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.
1. 4th of July Stars of All Stripes
From: Nicolle Zellner via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
On the 158th anniversary of her birth, we celebrate Henrietta Swan Leavitt and other stars.
Swan Leavitt was one of the many Harvard computers who catalogued hundreds of thousands of stars and made important contributions to advances in Astronomy. Her particular contribution was measurements of the relative brightness of Cepheid variable stars, which helped scientists to determine distances to stars. After her death from cancer in 1921, her work was used by Edwin Hubble to determine that the Milky Way is not the only galaxy in the observable universe. Exercises utilizing the Leavitt Law are common in Astronomy classes around the world.
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2024/07/4th-of-july-stars-of-all-stripes.html
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2. New Observatory Opens in the Young Country of Kosovo
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Diana Hannikainen
What do you do when you have a passion for astronomy, but your country doesn’t have the facilities for you to pursue your interest? If you’re Pranvera Hyseni, you set about planning and building an observatory and planetarium.
Just shy of 10 years ago, Pranvera had a bold vision for astronomy in her country and, along with a group of like-minded friends, founded Astronomy Outreach of Kosovo (AOK). The nonprofit’s mission is to bring the science and joy of astronomy to the people of Kosovo through outreach programs, such as public lectures and star parties, and ultimately, to establish a comprehensive astronomical facility for the country.
Read more at
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3. One Size Does Not Fit All
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By Emily Hitt
My eyes have never wavered from my educational and career goals. After earning a bachelor’s degree and completing four more years of professional education, I graduated with my Doctor of Pharmacy degree. I initially took a local pharmacist job, but I was thrilled when I learned of my acceptance into a pharmacy residency program. This postgraduate training would help me reach my ultimate career goals.
Accepting the position in the residency program meant moving to a different city. My family was genuinely supportive and excited for this next step, but a guy in my life was not. At the time, we were currently in a “situationship” and sharing conversations about turning our longterm friendship into a relationship. During our friendship, his family held onto the fantasy of us as more than friends. They were quick to criticize my decision when I announced my residency plans. His grandparents were “bummed and surprised” that I was moving. His father called me a poor friend and was irritated that my priorities were not on his son. Apparently, I was supposed to stay in town and think about settling down with him. After all, as a 27-year-old female, it was time to think about marriage and children.
Read more at
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4. Survey on Diversity and Inclusion in Astrobiology
From: Arsev Umur Aydinoglu [aaydinog_at_metu.edu.tr]
Dr. Arsev Umur Aydinoglu (Middle East Technical University) is conducting a second survey to assess how diversity and inclusion may have changed in the field of Astrobiology, since the first survey was conducted in 2022. Those findings were presented at AbSciCon 2024 (307-05, Diversity and Inclusion in Astrobiology: Results from a Survey [https://agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon24/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1499975]).
Please find the follow-up survey here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/astrobiology2024
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5. Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for the Space Sector
From: Libby Fenstermacher [elizabeth.f.fenstermacher_at_nasa.gov]
Gender mainstreaming, as defined by the United Nations is, “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies, or [programs] in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and [programs] in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality” (UNOOSA, 2024:2).
The ‘Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for the Space Sector,’ was created by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in partnership with The Government of Canada. Included within this toolkit, are actionable targeted and integrated approaches, organized under four distinct measures, which if followed, allow organizations and institutions of any size, across the globe, to integrate gender mainstreaming into their culture. After elaborating on examples of various actions and measures that can be taken to promote gender mainstreaming, a checklist is also provided for organizations to follow as they work towards integrating and disseminating the discussed measures.
Access the toolkit at
https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/SpaceforWomen/GenderMainstreamingToolkit_ENG.pdf
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6. SciWomen Origin Stories: Fantastic Graphic Journeys of World-Changing Scientists
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
“We are working with 6 AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors® to share their origin stories in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as they overcame adversity. Our overall goal is to inspire middle school girls to develop positive personal connections to STEM. We are doing this by developing different types of media, from paper-based comic books to short videos that highlight our Ambassadors’ journey to where they are today. We are creating comic books and vlogs for both in-person and online engagements that are relatable to underrepresented youth. The AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors’ project is based on the idea that “IF we support a woman in STEM, THEN she can change the world.” The AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors program brings together 125 women from a variety of STEM careers to serve as high-profile role models for middle school girls. Our SciAll AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors are Kristen Lear, Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil, Ritu Raman, Jessica Esquivel, Ana Maria Porras and Earyn McGee.”
Read more at
https://sciall.org/projects/
Including comic origin stories of astronomer Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil:
https://sciall.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/BurcinMutlu-PakdilJuaneleTamalComic.pdf
And physicist Jessica Esquivel:
https://sciall.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/JessicaEsquivelJuaneleTamalComic-1.pdf
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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_lists.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 through the online portal:
To Subscribe, go to https://aas.simplelists.com/aaswlist/subscribe/ and enter your name and email address, and click Subscribe. You will be sent an email with a link to click to confirm subscription.
To unsubscribe from AAS Women by email:
Go to https://aas.simplelists.com, in the “My account and unsubscriptions”, type your email address. You will receive an email with a link to access your account, from there you can click the unsubscribe link for this mailing list.
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9. Access to Past Issues
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/search/label/AASWOMEN
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