AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 27, 2009
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson & Michele Montgomery
This week's issues:
1. Academeology
2. Progress in STEM?
3. Michigan ADVANCE Web Site
4. My Role Model: Vera Rubin
5. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
6. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
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1. Academeology
From: Megan Urry [meg.urry
yale.edu]
The book "Academeology" by Female Science Professor (FSP for short)
is chock full of useful advice for students and faculty. It's written
by a woman physical scientist whose blog:
http://science-professor.blogspot.com/
is apparently well known. Although I'm not very with it, I confess
that a quick look now had me hooked. I was given Academeology by a
colleague in Biology at Yale who wanted to know who FSP was. That
I don't know, but I know I'm a fan. The book was also reviewed in
Nature (Nov 27, 2008, 456, 445), if you want to know more details.
In any case, I was so impressed with the book that I've ordered
copies for students and postdocs in my group. To buy a copy, either
an electronic download or the paperback, go to
http://www.lulu.com/content/3666072
By the way, it's mostly about life in academia, not specifically
about women, although toward the end of the book there is a very
interesting chapter on the experience of being a woman (especially a
petite blonde young-looking woman) in science.
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2. Progress in STEM?
From: Pat Knezek [pknezeknoao.edu]
Progress in STEM? Eight engineers at the University of Texas at Austin
received NSF CAREER grants - and half of them were awarded to women!
Given that my sister obtained her masters in Electrical Engineering
at UT less than 10 years ago and said she was often the only woman
in her building besides administrative assistants, I hope this
is a good sign! See:
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/02/17/nsf_career_awards/
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3. Michigan ADVANCE Web Site
From: Andrea Dupree [adupreecfa.harvard.edu]
Take a look at the Michigan ADVANCE web site:
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/advance/stride
It has lots of interesting links and ideas including:
-Frequently-Asked Questions: Dual Career Issues
-Frequently-Asked Questions: Retention of Science and Engineering Faculty
-Giving and Getting Career Advice: A Guide for Junior and Senior Faculty
-Guidelines for Writing Letters of Recommendation
-Handbook for Faculty Searches and Hiring
-How to Help New Faculty Settle In: Common Problems and Alternative Solutions
-Positive and Problematic Practices in Faculty Recruitment
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4. My Role Model: Vera Rubin
From: HannahWomen in Astronomy Blog, Feb 26, 2009
The theme of this month's Scientiae Carnival is Role Models.
Ever since grad school, I've named my computers after pioneering women
in astronomy: Maria (Mitchell), Caroline (Herschel), Cecilia
(Payne-Gaposchkin), Henrietta (Swan Leavitt), Annie (Jump Cannon).
(Some of these women were real life human computers.)
So perhaps it's no surprise that my role model is yet another pioneering
woman in astronomy: Vera Rubin. She became an astronomer in an era when
few women were even working out of the home. She discovered dark matter.
She has four children, all of whom are now scientists themselves and
raising their own families.
I had the good fortune to spend my first postdoc at the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, where Vera still comes in almost daily, despite
being retired. My first week there, she strolled into my office and
introduced herself in a very friendly way, saying she "liked to meet
all the new postdocs." Meanwhile, my mind was gibbering, "it's Vera
Rubin! It's Vera Rubin!!" In my time at Carnegie, we ate many meals
together at Lunch Club, shared many stories about raising children,
talked about the obstacles that women in astronomy have faced over
the years and still face today, and even talked about science once in
a while. I learned that while Vera is a kind and gentle soul, she is
tough as steel under her grandmotherly exterior and will fight tooth
and nail against any perceived injustices.
I admire Vera for many things: for doing ground-breaking science,
for raising a wonderful and loving family, for having the chutzpah stand
up to nay-sayers, and for just being a nice person.
Someday, I will probably name a computer after Vera, but given my
criteria for naming computers, I hope it won't be for a long long time.
Who is your role model?
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5. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
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6. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
Past issues of AASWOMEN are available at
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
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