Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:38:42 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Correction for CSWA Newsletter of 7/26
To: AASMAIL: ;
Correction for Newsletter of 7/26/2000.
Number 3, the New Astronomy Software topic in the most recent
newsletter is probably a hoax. I apologize for not checking it
first; I put the letter together from my vacation without good
internet access.
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:21:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: CSWA Newsletter of 7/26/2000
To: AASMAIL: ;
AAS Committee on the Status of Women
weekly issues of 7/26/2000, ed. by Priscilla Benson
*** send email and addresses to aaswomen
wellesley.edu ***
This week's issues:
1. More on jobs
2. Morella Commission and AIP Report
3. New Astronomy Software
4. Job Listing
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1. More on Jobs
From: ssimkinnsf.gov
In the Newsletter of 7/12/2000, Kathy Mead wrote:
"I was wondering, how many of the offers to women for
various jobs were made to the same woman?"
As someone who has been "on the other side" of hiring for 20
years (and now has an even different perspective from either
that of a hiree or hirer) the real wonder is why most of the
job offers in any one year are made TO THE SAME PERSON (or 2
persons)? This usually has something to do with fads and
lots of people in senior positions who do hiring not being
up to date enough to know the difference between what the
"Jones want" and what will be a long-term, sound
investment." If you watch your university administrators
you will find that most of the "new" activities they
instigate are what was recently written up in the Chronicles
of Higher Education. And when the head of a department hires
(or a committee) they "talk around " and find "what's hot."?
I hope not - because what is hot is usually what is not in 5
to 6 years. It does mean that RESPONSIBLE people should be
willing to really keep up to date and not go with the herd.
(But that may be an oxymoron when dealing with people who
have taken on administrative jobs - and lest anyone take
immediate offense - that includes myself!)
Sue simkin
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2. Morella Commission and AIP Report
From: cmustsci.edu and rebullboron.uchicago.edu
This just came out on the FYI server and should be of
interest to this audience. If you want more details, check
out their web page.
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy
News Number 87: July 19, 2000
Women and Minorities in S&T: Morella Commission and AIP
Report
Both a congressionally-established commission and an AIP
report have recently contributed to the dialogue on
participation of women and other underrepresented groups in
science. After almost ten years of trying to get an effort
off the ground, Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD) held a press
conference and hearing on July 13 to celebrate the work of a
commission she established on the Advancement of Women,
Minorities, and People with Disabilities in Science,
Technology and Engineering (CAWMSET). The 11 members of
the bipartisan commission, mainly from academia and
industry, were appointed by President Clinton, Members of
Congress, and Governors, with a steering committee composed
of senior officials from federal S&T agencies.
While the full report will not be available until July 31
on the commission's web site
(http://www.nsf.gov/od/cawmset), its recommendations were
made public on July 13. Speakers highlighted the importance
to the nation of a strong science, engineering and
technology (SET) domestic workforce, and the growing role of
women, minorities, and the disabled in that workforce. "The
statistics themselves are sufficiently compelling," said
commission member George Campbell, President of Cooper
Union. Over the past 20 years, he noted, many previous
reports have issued warnings on the same subject. "So we
didn't want to produce yet another report that would be news
for a day and then relegated to the bookshelves to gather
dust with the others," Campbell asserted. Instead, he said,
the commission's goal "was to produce a set of action-
oriented policy statements that would push some buttons that
haven't been pushed before."
The report's recommendations advocate greater action,
emphasis, accountability, and in some cases greater
resources, from federal, state and local governments, and
industry. It is difficult to know, however, what incentives
or inducements - other than the compelling statistics cited
by Campbell - the commission can bring to spur these groups
to action. The commission's recommendations [concern pre-
college education, higher education, professional life,
public image, and nationwide accountability.]
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3. New Astronomy Software
From: whciimail.utexas.edu
A new computer program analyzing the Earth-to-Mars mission
trajectory is available as a free download. The author is a
pH.D. student of celestial mechanics at the Univ. of Texas
at Austin, and this is his research program. It models the
mission just like NASA's prototypical five thrust
trajectory, and it is set up for the 2001 mission. You
input a mid course correction and the program optimizes the
flight plan, then outputs all the positions, velocities, and
times - all 16 significant digits worth! The exact numbers
the experts at JPL use to plan their missions.
The program is available free at http://get-me.to/mars
There is a full description of the software on the site,
plus a technical article on the theory use. The actual
computer code is even available.
Regards,
Bill Clark
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4. Job Listing
blitzgmc.Berkeley.EDU
Project Manager for the CARMA Telescope
The CARMA project (Combined Array for Research in
Millimeter-wave Astronomy) is seeking a project manager who
will supervise the design and construction of a merger
between the 6-telescopes of Caltech's Owens Valley Radio
Observatory (OVRO) millimeter array, presently located at
Big Pine, CA, and 9-telescopes of the Berkeley-Illinois-
Maryland Association (BIMA) array, presently located at Hat
Creek, CA. The baseline plan is to move these 15 telescopes
to a new, higher elevation site in the Inyo Mountains,
southeast of Bishop, CA, and operate them together as one
aperture synthesis instrument.
The start date is negotiable, but we would like to have
someone in place as soon as possible, nominally by October
1, 2000 or whenever an appropriate candidate is selected.
Please address applications to: Project Manager Position
attn: Dr. D. P. Woody
P.O. Box 968
Owens Valley Radio Observatory
Leighton Lane
Big Pine, CA 93513
dpwovro.caltech.edu
Editor's Note: The job description was very long and has
been considerably cut. Unfortunately, there was no web site
listed, but if interested, I would assume you could email
Dr. Woody or the submitter at blitzgmc.Berkeley.EDU for the full
ad.
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End of CSWA Newsletter of 7/26/2000