Friday, November 21, 2014

AASWOMEN Newsletter for November 21, 2014

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of November 21, 2014
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer

This week's issues:

1. It's Not About That Damn Shirt

2. Why I Think Diversity is Good, but the Wrong Target

3. How to Apologize

4. Full STEAM Ahead! The Adler Planetarium's 2nd Annual Girls Do Hack Day

5. How U. of San Diego Added 8 Female STEM Professors

6. Emmy Noether Visiting Fellowships

7. Barbie Book about Programming Tells Girls They Need Boys to Code for Them

8. NSF Grad Forum

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


1. It's Not About That Damn Shirt

From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

The following was submitted to the Women in Astronomy Blog by a female astronomer who wishes to use the pseudonym Kerri Benjamin.

The next sentence is the most important thing in this whole post:

I am posting this under a pseudonym because I am afraid to post it on my own blog or Twitter.

I am afraid.

The snafu known as ShirtGate or ShirtStorm is complicated, nuanced, and exhausting.

Read more at:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/11/its-not-about-that-damn-shirt.html

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2. Why I Think Diversity is Good, but the Wrong Target

From: John Johnson via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

There have been many posts on this blog and elsewhere calling for increased diversity in astronomy. I've written about it. My student has written about it. Diversity has many benefits, and we're missing out on those benefits by not having a more diverse field of science. However, I'm becoming less and less enamored with diversity as a target or goal in and of itself.

Read more at:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-i-think-diversity-is-good-but-wrong.html

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3. How to Apologize

From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

The astronomy community has been reeling this past week from the aftermath of the Rosetta #ShirtStorm incident. The scientist who made this mistake has apologized -- which is very difficult to do -- and I applaud him for doing that. Even people with the best intentions mess up and make mistakes; it is a great opportunity to reflect and learn. Here is a video by Franchesca Ramsey on how to apologize when you've been called out. She uses an example from her own life where she was transphobic, got called out, and how she responded.

Watch the video at:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-to-apologize.html

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4. Full STEAM Ahead! The Adler Planetarium's 2nd Annual Girls Do Hack Day

From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

Choo choo! I am full STEAM ahead on the STEM + art/design train. This past Saturday, at our 2nd annual Girls do Hack Day at the Adler Planetarium, I saw first-hand how well it works to use the creativity and fun of art/design to hook girls into STEM.

Read more at:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/11/full-steam-ahead-adler-planetariums-2nd.html

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5. How U. of San Diego Added 8 Female STEM Professors

From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]

From The Chronicle of Higher Education

Approximately 60 percent of our majors in the STEM disciplines at the University of San Diego are female, but within those disciplines the percentage of female fauclty isn't even close to that. Our desire was to promote opportunities for women in STEM fields and have a more representative faculty.

To read more:

http://chronicle.com/article/How-U-of-San-Diego-Added-8/150051

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6. Emmy Noether Visiting Fellowships

From: Sarah Gallagher [sgalla4_at_uwo.ca]

Amalie Emmy Noether, an influential German mathematician known for her ground-breaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics, was regarded by Albert Einstein as the most important woman in the history of mathematics.

In honour of Noether’s genius and legacy, Perimeter Institute invites applications for Emmy Noether Visiting Fellowships from outstanding theoretical physicists who wish to pursue research at the institute while on leave from their faculty positions at home institutes.

Perimeter Institute promotes an inclusive, welcoming culture and a family-friendly workplace. The Emmy Noether Fellowships are central to Perimeter Institute's initiatives to support female physicists.

The Fellowship provides financial and organizational support for relocation, which may include some or all of the following:

- teaching buyouts - salary support or top-up - meals and ground transportation - accommodation - return transportation and research related-travel - reimbursement as required for child care

More information, including how to submit an application, is available here:

http://perimeterinstitute.ca/emmy-noether-visiting-fellowships?cm_mid=4121044&cm_crmid=e3f7eec6-d212-e111-870d-005056800012&cm_medium=email

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7. Barbie Book about Programming Tells Girls They Need Boys to Code for Them

From: Elysse Voyer [elysse.voyer_at_gmail.com] and Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

By Aja Romano

She's been a swimsuit cover model and a human trafficking victim, but Barbie has never really been touted as a working professional. The latest affront to basic decency in gendered toy marketing comes from a Barbie book that tells girls they can't be game developers or programmers.

The book is bafflingly called Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer. It was written by Susan Marenco and published by Random House. Despite its encouraging title, Marenco's book actually tells preteen girls that Barbie can only contribute to the design of the game she's building.

Read more at:

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/barbie-engineer-book-girls-game-developers

And check out the remixed version here:

http://caseyfiesler.com/2014/11/18/barbie-remixed-i-really-can-be-a-computer-engineer

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8. NSF Grad Forum

From: Johanna Teske [jteske_at_carnegiescience.edu]

I would like to encourage grad students to participate in the new NSF Grad Forum, which is soliciting experiences and opinions of grad students regarding the improvement of STEM education in the U.S. There are several separate threads, including "Diversity and Broadening Participation", which would greatly benefit from the voices of non-majority groups.

http://nsfgradforum.wordpress.com

and particularly

http://nsfgradforum.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/what-does-broadening-participation-mean-to-you

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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:

http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease

The ICRAR node at Curtin University invites applications for five postdoctoral research associates/fellows specialising in either low frequency radio astronomy or accretion science. Apply here: https://webkiosk.curtin.edu.au/recruit/WK8127$APP.QueryList?Z_ORDER_BY=1

The jobs are:

Research Associate/Fellow MWA Science (including 30% science support) Contact: Prof. Carole Jackson (carole.jackson_at_curtin.edu.au)

Research Associate/Fellow MWA extragalactic survey science Contact: Prof. Carole Jackson (carole.jackson_at_curtin.edu.au)

Research Associate/Fellow MWA massive and powerful galaxies Contact: Dr. Nick Seymour (nick.seymour_at_curtin.edu.au)

Research Associate/Fellow, X-ray binaries and radio transients Contact: Dr. James Miller-Jones (james.miller-jones_at_curtin.au.edu)

Research Fellow, stellar-mass quiescent black holes Contact: Dr. James Miller-Jones (james.miller-jones_at_curtin.au.edu)

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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_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 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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12. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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