AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy
Issue of May 4, 2005 and May 13, 2005
eds. Patricia Knezek, Jim Ulvestad, & Lisa Frattare
This week's issues:
1. March 3rd U. Calif. Forum on Women in Physical Sciences
2. Article: Why Women Leave Academic Physics
*** The following items are taken from WIPHYS ****
3. 19 Women Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
4. AIP Survey of Women in Physics
5. Encouraging Congress to Advance Women's Participation in STEM
6. "Is Being Female a Disability?"
7. Program Director for the Gravitational Physics Program, NSF
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8. How to submit, subscribe, or unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
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1. Forum Topics from "Our Lives as Women in Physical Sciences" Forum held
March 3, 2005
From: Tammy Smecker-Hane smecker
carina.ps.uci.edu
Dear CSWA Newsletter Readers:
I am an associate professor of astrophysics at the University of California,
Irvine, and a member of the UCI ADVANCE program, which is dedicated to the
recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty and funded by a
grant from the National Science Foundation. On March 3, 2005, ADVANCE
sponsored a forum for women graduate students and postdoctoral researchers
in the School of Physical Science entitled "Our Lives as Women in Physical
Sciences." I was one of the four women faculty who introduced ourselves,
gave a brief outline of our careers, and moderated an open question and
answer session with the audience of 22 women.
The women raised some very profound questions such as:
(1) How hard is it to find two academic positions, one for you and one for
your partner (the "Two-Body Problem")?,
(2) Is it easier to work at a 4-year or community college than at a research
university?
(3) What do you do when you find the environment of the lab you're working
in to be unacceptable because of sexual advances, rude comments, etc.?
(4) How hard is it to have children and a career, and when do you suggest
having children given that getting tenure conflicts with your biological
clock? and
(5) Is it better to have a male or female adviser or mentor? The faculty
did our best to provide some insight into the wide range of answers.
Faculty, students and postdocs all agreed that the discussion was fun,
eye-opening and very rewarding! I'd encourage other faculty to do something
similar at their schools.
To create a lasting record for the benefit of those who didn't attend and
for the benefit of future graduate students and postdoctoral researchers,
the faculty moderators at our forum decided to post the questions and a
summary of the answers discussed on the ADVANCE website at
http://advance.uci.edu (currently the top item, but later on you can find
it by going to the "Events" page and under "Past Events" look for "Our Lives
as Women in Physics Sciences").
Sincerely,
Tammy Smecker-Hane(tsmeckeruci.edu)
ADVANCE Equity Advisor, School of Physical Sciences
Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy
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2. Article: Why Women Leave Academic Physics
From: AASWomen Editors
There is an interesting short article by Toni Feder in the May 2005 Physics
Today, page 32. Entitled "Why Women Leave Academic Physics," it describes
some preliminary results from a survey Fermilab postdoc Sherry Towers did
to see why women physicists and astronomers leave academia.
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3. 19 Women Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
From: WIPHYS of May 4, 2005
The National Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday that it has elected
72 new members, of whom 19 are women. The list of new members is available
on the Academy's web site at
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/05032005?OpenDocument .
Congratulations to physicists Deborah Jin (JILA/Univ of Colorado, Ellen
Williams (Univ of Maryland) and Jocelyn Bell (Univ of Oxford/UK), as well
as to the other distinguished women scientists who were elected this year!
News Articles on this subject:
The New York Times May 4, 2005: "National Academy of Sciences Elects 19
Women, a New High" available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/science/04women.html
The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 4, 2005 "National Academy of
Sciences Elects Record Number of Women as Members" available at
(subscription required):
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v51/i36/36a02205.htm .
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4. AIP Survey of Women in Physics
From: WIPHYS Posting for May 10, 2005
Dear Colleague:
We are writing to request your participation in a survey of women in
physics. In conjunction with the Second International Conference on Women
in Physics, the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of
Physics is conducting a second survey of women in physics.
Please click on this link to go to the survey
http://www.aip.org/statistics/women . You will be redirected to our secure
server. Your answers will be anonymous and will not be traceable to you.
All identifying information will be removed from your answers.
We also conducted a survey before the first conference, and more than 1000
women in 55 different countries answered the questionnaire. The results of
the survey were published in the conference proceedings, and the report can
be viewed at
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/iupap.pdf .
We hope to have many respondents to this second survey and will publish our
findings in the new conference proceedings.
If you know of any women in physics who would be willing to answer this
survey, please forward this message to them. It is not necessary to attend
the conference in order to answer the questionnaire.
Thank you for your help with this effort to reach many women physicists
across the world. If you have any questions, you may contact Rachel Ivie of
the American Institute of Physics, rivieaip.org.
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5. Encouraging Congress to Advance Women's Participation in STEM
From: WIPHYS of May 13, 2005
On May 11, at an 11:30 a.m. press conference on Capitol Hill, a coalition
of organizations and individuals presented U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR)
and George Allen (R-VA) a letter encouraging Congress to take action to
advance women's full participation in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics. The letter outlines the issues and the efforts that must be
taken to increase the numbers of all women entering these fields. "Over
6,000 individuals have signed the letter," said Carol Muller, CEO of the
non-profit MentorNet, one of the organizations involved in bringing together
the signers on this issue. "We must continue to take action to reverse the
under-representation of women in these fields and to increase their
opportunities. We must act now because our nation runs the risk of losing
leadership in these fields." To learn more about the presentation of the
letter to the Senators, or to read the letter, go to
www.MentorNet.net/wyden-allen/.
Carol Muller
Founder and CEO, MentorNet
cbmullermentornet.net
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6. "Is Being Female a Disability?"
From: WIPHYS of May 13, 2005
A post to Science magazine's blog that is not as inflammatory as the
title suggests.
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/feature/careerblog.shtml
Alison Chaiken http://www.wsrcc.com/alison/
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7. Program Director for the Gravitational Physics Program
From: WIPHYS of May 13, 2005
NSF's Division of Physics (PHY) is seeking qualified candidates for Program
Director for the Gravitational Physics Program, with major oversight
responsibility for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory
(LIGO). This position involves principal NSF responsibility for the
coordination, management, and oversight for LIGO and planning and
development for possible future construction of Advanced LIGO. For
information about LIGO, see http://www.ligo.caltech.edu.
Appointment to this position may be on a permanent basis, a one or two year
Visiting Scientist appointment, a Federal Temporary appointment, an
Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) appointment, or on detail from another
agency. The salary range for NSF appointments is $88,369 to $137,713.
Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent experience in a relevant field of
physics or in a related field, plus six or more years of successful research,
research administration, and managerial experience beyond the PhD, including
experience with management and construction of large scientific facilities.
Announcements E20050071 and E20050072-Rotator, with position requirements
and application procedures, are located on the NSF Home Page at
http://www.nsf.gov/about/career_opps/vacancies/scientific.jsp .
Applicants may also obtain the announcements by contacting Florentina
Costache at 703-292-5330 or Maria Sutton at 703-292-4364 (Hearing impaired
individuals may call TDD 703-292-8044). NSF is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Laura P. (Pat) Bautz
Acting Executive Officer
Physics Division, National Science Foundation
(703) 292-7211
lbautznsf.gov
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