Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 08:21:32 -0500 (EST)
Subject: CSWA Newsletter of 3/29/2000
To: AASMAIL: ;
AAS Committee on the Status of Women
weekly issues of 3/29/2000, ed. by Priscilla Benson
*** send email and addresses to aaswomen
wellesley.edu ***
This week's issues:
1. Women Representatives at Meetings
2. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and
Engineering
3. NEW $150,000 ANNUAL PRIZE FOR COSMOLOGY
4. The Physics Chanteuse
5. Summer AO course
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1. Women Representatives at Meetings
From: Vera Rubin rubindtm.ciw.edu
Dear Abi,
Thank you for the poster about the comsmic structure
meeting. I have torn it up into 128 pieces, which I would
happily send to you, except that this is email.
Do you expect me to hang a poster which names 39 men (approx
- I was too angry to recount), and two women? If so, you
are wrong. You are offering prestige, exposure, money?,
confidence, seniority, to many men. To me this looks like
affirmative action for men. And this at a time when the
students and administration at Harvard are organizing a
conference on Women in Science.
For fifty years I have been fighting against the injustices
which you are propagating. The funds which you are spending
have been offered to you by the University and by funding
agencies, assuming that these funds will be properly used.
I believe that your committee is not properly using these
funds. At this point, the only recourse I can think of is to
alert the funding agencies, to insure that such injustices
do not continue.
By this letter, I am asking all those who agree with these
sentiments to refrain from hanging the poster.
Vera Rubin
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From: Abraham Loeb loebcfa.harvard.edu
Dear Vera,
I am sorry to learn that you were upset by the poster. Let
me try to clarify a few details.
The program of the forthcoming conference is focused on high
redshifts (z>5), and we did our best to bring together the
people that are active in this field, irrespective of their
seniority. There are nine (!) postdocs and one student in
the current program. I am sorry if you got the impression
that the program is biased towards men; if you would have
been present in the discussions of the organizing committee
(which includes also David Spergel and Chuck Steidel) you
would have seen that there was no trace of such a bias. We
simply tried to come up with the list of the active people
in this field, irrespective of their status or gender.
We have invited in total five women to attend the meeting,
namely: Amy Barger, Sandy Faber, Guinevere Kauffmann, Rachel
Somerville, and Suzanne Staggs. Three accepted and two
declined (the poster's list is only preliminary; true to the
date when the poster was made). Sandy Faber and Guinevere
Kauffmann said that they can not make it, while all but one
of our male invitees accepted the invitations. We would have
been delighted if all five women were to attend the meeting,
but only three accepted.
I hope that the above information will improve your view of
the organization of this conference. We truly operated with
the very best intentions.
Best wishes,
Avi
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2. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and
Engineering
From: WIPHYS Posting for Mar 15, 2000
CALL FOR PAPERS -VOLUME 6 and 7, 2000-01
Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University, Carol J. Burger, Ph.D.,
Editor-in-Chief Now welcoming submissions for Volume 6 and
7, the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and
Engineering publishes original, peer-reviewed papers that
report innovative ideas and programs, scientific studies,
and formulation of concepts related to the education,
recruitment, and retention of underrepresented groups in
science and engineering. Issues related to women and
minorities in science and engineering are consolidated to
address the entire professional and educational environment.
Subjects for papers submitted can include: empirical studies
of current qualitative or quantitative research; historical
investigations of how minority status impacts science and
engineering; original theoretical or conceptual analyses of
science from feminist, racial, and ethnic perspectives;
reviews of literature; explorations of feminist teaching
methods, minority student/white teacher interactions;
cultural phenomena that affect the classroom climate. To
receive guidelines for manuscript preparation or to submit a
curriculum vita if you are interested in reviewing papers
for the journal contact:
Editorial Assistant Journal of Women and Minorities in
Science and Engineering Center for Interdisciplinary Studies
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0227
Phone: 540-231-6296 Fax: 540-231-7013
E-mail: JRLWMSEVT.EDU
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3. NEW $150,000 ANNUAL PRIZE FOR COSMOLOGY
From: "Wright, James P." jwrightnsf.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patellen Corr 610.964.9357
THE PETER GRUBER FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES
CREATION OF INTERNATIONAL AWARDS PROGRAM
-- First Award Dedicated to Cosmology --
WASHINGTON, DC - March 2, 2000 - The Peter Gruber
Foundation, along with the International Congress of
Distinguished Awards (ICDA), announced the creation of the
world's first award devoted to cosmology with a substantial
cash prize of $150,000. The Cosmology Prize of the Peter
Gruber Foundation, given annually to an outstanding
astronomer, cosmologist, physicist or mathematician, will
recognize fundamental scientific advances that shape the way
we see and comprehend our universe.
"This unique award will recognize discoveries and new
contributions that cause fundamental shifts in human
knowledge and world culture," said Peter Gruber, founder of
the Peter Gruber Foundation. "We are proud to begin honoring
some of those individuals who are advancing the most
fundamental of all the sciences."
The Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation will
accept its first round of nominations from March 2 until May
1, 2000. The first recipient will be announced at the time
of the XXIV General Assembly of the International
Astronomical Union in Manchester, U.K., in August. The award
will be formally presented for the first time on November
11, 2000, in ceremonies at the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences at the Vatican.
The award recipients will be chosen by a distinguished
Advisory Board which includes Professor John D. Barrow of
Cambridge University; Dr. Vera C. Rubin of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington; Sir Martin Rees of the University
of Cambridge; Rev. Dr. George V. Coyne, S.J.; and Professor
Owen Gingerich of Harvard Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics.
"For scientists, most rewards are internal ones, which
come from the joys of discovery," said Dr. Vera Rubin. "The
Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation recognizes
the exceptional merit of one researcher's contributions, to
both science and humankind."
The Peter Gruber Foundation also anticipates the creation
of three additional awards during 2001 - each also with cash
prizes of $150,000. They include a Science Prize,
incorporating physical, life, and the social sciences; a
Culture Prize, recognizing those who cause fundamental
changes in the way we approach and pursue social life; and
the Code of Law Prize, incorporating executive, legislative,
and judicial law-making that preserve and extend civil
liberties across state, local, and national boundaries.
These additional awards will be launched and be presented
annually beginning in 2001.
The Peter Gruber Foundation, founded in 1993, has
established a reputation of charitable giving principally in
the U.S. Virgin Islands. There it funds social service
organizations, scholarship programs, and community
foundations. It also supports other projects focusing on
young people and their education.
Dr. Larry E. Tise, Ph.D, founder and president of the
International Congress of Distinguished Awards, a historian
and author, will administer the awards program of the Peter
Gruber Foundation from offices located in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
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4. The Physics Chanteuse
From: Lynda Williams lwilliams stars.sfsu.edu
I will be on the East Coast in April doing some shows in and
around the NYC, Boston, DC and Philadelphia areas. I would
like to offer to do a Physics Chanteuse show that focuses on
women in physics and astronomy with song, media and more.
I have been doing this Cabaret style show for scientists,
the general public and now at high schools. It is
appropriate for a public show or a colloquium or party or
event.
I am booked for shows at CUNY (April 7), DC (April 15) and
Vassar (April 13). I'll be in Philadelphia the 19th -21st
staying will family and would love to do a show while there
- especially at Bryn Mawr!
If anyone out there is interested in having me do a show,
please let me know asap! For more info on my act:
http://www.scientainment.com
Lynda Williams
lwilliamstars.sfsu.edu
415-576-0555
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5. Summer AO course
From: Luisa Rebull rebullboron.uchicago.edu
Announcing a Chautauqua Summer Course for College Teachers
entitled:
The Sharper Image: Adaptive Optics in Vision Science and
Astronomy
Optical astronomy and imaging are currently experiencing a
Renaissance. Adaptive Optics (AO) is a major part of this
revival as it holds the promise of making ground based
telescopes more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope,
making it possible to image individual rods and cones in a
living human eye, and perhaps even making it possible to see
better.
This course will provide participants with a solid
background in the theory and practice of adaptive optics
technology and its applications in the fields of
astrophysics and vision science.
For college teachers of: the physical sciences and
biological sciences No Prerequisites.
Class will be held June 20-23, 2000, at the historic Yerkes
Observatory in Williams Bay, WI.
APPLICATIONS BEING REVIEWED NOW through early May, or until
the class is filled.
For more information, see class site at:
http://astro.uchicago.edu/chau/
and the main Chautauqua site at
http://www.engrng.pitt.edu/~chautauq/
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End of CSWA Newsletter of 3/29/2000