AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of December 6, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Sethanne Howard, Hannah Jang-Condell, and Ferah Munshi
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. –eds.]
This week’s issues:
1. Cross-post: Burcin Mutlu-Pakdil chases dwarf galaxies
2. I defend the planet from asteroid collisions
3. Brilliant white male characters more believable, some viewers say
4. Science magazine article on gender gap changes over time in physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS).
5. Women in STEM Building Bridges between scientists and decision makers
6. Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities Final Text and Due Date
7. AAS Member AI Survey
8. FINESST: Science Mission Directorate’s Graduate Student Research
9. Job Opportunities
10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
12. 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. Cross-post: Burcin Mutlu-Pakdil chases dwarf galaxies
From: Nicolle Zellner via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Write an essay on your ideal person. That assignment in middle school set Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil on the path to becoming a scientist. Wondering who the “cleverest person in the world” was, she started reading about Albert Einstein and his science. She became especially interested in astronomy.
That interest took Mutlu-Pakdil from Istanbul, Turkey, where she grew up, to the country’s capital city of Ankara for her bachelor’s degree. She earned her PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2017. An unusual galaxy she studied as a PhD student is informally named after her. Today she is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. An observational astronomer, she studies tiny, faint dwarf galaxies; she hopes they will reveal secrets about dark matter.
Read more at:
https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2024/12/cross-post-burcin-mutlu-pakdil-chases.html
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2. I defend the planet from asteroid collisions
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
By Nikki Forrester
Astronomer Desireé Cotto-Figueora detects and characterizes near-Earth asteroids to identify potential hazards.
Read more at
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03831-2?
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3. Brilliant white male characters more believable, some viewers say
From: Jeremy Bailin [jbailin_at_ua.edu]
By: Matea Mustafaj
Brilliant characters often play key roles in movies and TV shows. However, when these characters are played by women and people of color, some audience members dismiss them as unrealistic, even if they portray real people and events, a recent study found.
Read More at:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1065854
Read the Journal article
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15213269.2024.2397024
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4. Science magazine article on gender gap changes over time in physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS).
From: Rupen, Michael [Michael.Rupe_at_nrc-cnrc.gc.ca]
By: Science Magazine
“Men considerably outnumber women in physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS) majors, with a recent male-to-female ratio of ~4:1, a starkcontrast to the near parity in other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (1). This gender disparity in PECS carries wide-reaching implications for equity, innovation, and scientific advancement. Analyzing a near-census of >34 million bachelor’s degrees awarded in the US from 2002 to 2022, supplemented with two nationally representative datasets,we provide the first comprehensive study of the gender gap in PECS across higher-education institutions. Institutions serving students with higher math SAT scores have made greater strides in closing PECS gender gaps-both in initial recruitment and retention-whereasthose serving students with lower math SAT scores are increasingly struggling. Our findings highlight institutions as strategic leverage points for targeted interventions, particularly to benefit women of color who remain underrepresented even where gender balance is improving.”
Read more at
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr0787
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5. Women in STEM Building Bridges between scientists and decision makers
From: Brenda Ortiz Calva via AAAS
By: Estefania Ortiz Calva, AAAS
Are you interested in building bridges between scientists and decisionmakers in your country? There is an exciting opportunity for those interested in science diplomacy and eager to learn more about the topic: The 2024 AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy, taking place July 21-24 in Trieste, Italy. The annual course introduces participant pairs, composed of a scientist and a decisionmaker from the same country, to key subjects in science diplomacy through informative panels and case study exercises. You can find more information on the course as well as the link to apply here:
Read more at:
https://www.aaas.org/events/2025-aaas-twas-course-science-diplomacy-call-applications
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6. Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities Final Text and Due Date
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.edu]
By: NASA astrophysics
Amended November 26, 2024. This amendment releases the final text for this program element that was previously released as draft for community comment. A Notice of Intent is ardently requested by Friday, January 17, 2025, and proposals are due on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
Read more at:
https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b13570A2B-EE5C-553E-B73A-6312B84CFDAA%7d&path=&method=init
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7. AAS Member AI Survey
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]
By: AAS AI Task Force
AI is having a significant impact on how astronomers and planetary scientists teach, work, recruit, and learn. The AAS AI Task Force is seeking comments from community members to guide the Society’s approach to AI going forward. Please complete the online surveyand come to the #AAS245 AI Town Hall in January — we need your input!
Read more at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AAS-AI
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8. FINESST: Science Mission Directorate’s Graduate Student Research
From: Sethanne Howard [sethanneh_at_msn.com]
By NASA SMD
Several corrections and clarifications have been made to F.5 Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) in sections 4, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2.2, and 10. New text is in bold and deleted text is struck through. The proposal due date remains unchanged: Proposals are due February 5, 2025.
Read more at:
https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=%7b2AAB44BB-6DFB-C42E-315A-DC2D70683A9D%7d&path=&method=in
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9. Job Opportunities
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:
https://aas.org/comms/cswa/resources/Diversity#howtoincrease
– Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at NOIRLab (Tucson, Hilo, or La Serena)
https://recruiting2.ultipro.com/SPA1004AURA/JobBoard/57b96f30-6a4b-42cc-8f73-d417a17b54e9/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=7ad40994-a5f6-4f4c-853c-75bb113df529
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10. 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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11. 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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12. Access to Past Issues
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/search/label/AASWOMEN
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