Saturday, April 27, 2013

AASWomen for April 26, 2013

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 26, 2013
eds. Caroline Simpson, Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, and Nick Murphy

This week's issues:

1. What Can I Do?

2. APS CSWP Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program

3. Grand Challenges in Science Education

4. Lessons from Women in Emerging Markets

5. Nigerian Professor of Physics, Fransisca Okeke, Wins 2013 L’Oreal – UNESCO Women In Science Award

6. Women In Science Disadvantaged: Work By Male Scientists Associated With Higher Quality

7. Crying at Work

8. 2 Monkeys Were Paid Unequally; See What Happens Next

9. Preliminary Proposals for NSF Physics Frontiers Centers

10. APS Opportunities for Grad Students

11. Must Love Rocks: Stonehenge Is Seeking a 'General Manager'

12. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

14. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter


1. What Can I Do?
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelz_at_memphis.edu]

Back in 2009 after the Women in Astronomy III conference, CSWA members and AASWOMEN readers generated a list of suggestions for graduate students amp; postdocs for promoting women in astronomy amp; creating a female-friendly workplace. CSWA put these suggestions together in the form on a brochure (yes, and old-fashioned paper brochure), entitled, "What Can I Do?" A copy that could be printed out by anyone interested is still on our web site:

http://www.aas.org/cswa/WhatCanIDo.pdf

A quick look will tell you that it is a bit out of date. CSWA would like to make a new list, and I'm asking for your help. AASWOMEN readers, if you have a suggestion for the new "What Can I Do?" list, please send it to me at the above address. Thanks!

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2. APS CSWP Climate for Women in Physics Site Visit Program
From: Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[This week's guest bloggers are Susan Blessing, CSWP Chair and chair of the Site Visit Subcommittee, and Deanna Ratnikova, CSWP staff liaison and administrative coordinator for the Site Visit Program. CSWA is proposing to implement Climate Site Visits for Astronomy Departments, and Susan and Deanna were kind enough to write this description of the highly successful and much in demand CSWA program.]

Since 1990, the American Physical Society (APS) Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) has conducted site visits to physics departments at research institutions and national laboratories to assess and improve the climate for women. Through the Climate Site Visit Program, a team of physicists visits physics departments or labs to catalogue the problems that women face and to suggest potential improvements. The site visit program has been heralded for leading the physics community to a deeper understanding of the climate for women physicists in academia.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/04/aps-cswp-climate-for-women-in-physics.html

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3. Grand Challenges in Science Education
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

[Science Magazine has a special issue out this week highlighting STEM education. Though not specifically about women, many of the articles touch on issues of inclusion and diversity in science. -eds]

In this special issue of Science, we have invited experts to tell us what they think are the most important challenges facing science education. Through a mixture of News, Reviews, Perspectives, Education Forums, and an Editorial, we explore the obstacles to progress, be they within the classroom, across the school system, or in the larger social arena. We also offer substantive suggestions on how to proceed.

Articles in this special issue can be found at

http://www.sciencemag.org/site/special/education2013

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4. Lessons from Women in Emerging Markets
From: Hannah Jang-Condell via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

I heard a fascinating story on the radio this morning, on gender equality in emerging markets.

Naively, one might expect that women might be doing poorly in the business world in countries like Brazil, Russia, India, and China [BRIC], but that doesn't seem to be true:

"In India, 11 percent of CEOs of the top companies are female," economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett tells NPR's Renee Montagne. "The figure here is 3 percent. In Brazil, 12 percent of CEOs are female. It's also a country with a female head of state. So we have to understand that in some ways, women in these emerging markets are pointing the way."

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/04/lessons-from-women-in-emerging-markets.html

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5. Nigerian Professor of Physics, Fransisca Okeke, Wins 2013 L’Oreal – UNESCO Women In Science Award
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

Francisca Okeke, a Professor of Physics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka has recently received the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award for her contribution to the understanding of "daily variations of the ion currents in the upper atmosphere which may further our understanding of climate change."

To read more, please see

http://www.bellanaija.com/2013/04/19/nigerian-professor-of-physics-fransisca-okeke-clinches-the-2013-loreal-unesco-women-in-science-award-for-africa-arab-states

Additional awardees are featured here

http://www.loreal.com/dd/loreal/foundation/Article.aspx?topcode=Foundation_AccessibleScience_WomenExcellence_U

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6. Women In Science Disadvantaged: Work By Male Scientists Associated With Higher Quality
From: Caroline Simpson [simpsonc_at_fiu.edu]

[Commentary on the study from researchers at Ohio State University, also featured in last week's newsletter. -eds]

Working in the sciences is notoriously challenging for women -- men outnumber and out-earn them across the biological, life, physical and social sciences. And now, new research from Ohio State University has found that, not only are scientific articles written by men thought to be higher quality than those written by women, but also that people are more interested in collaborating with male scientists than female ones.

To read more, please see

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/women-in-science-disadvantage-prejudice_n_3117991.html

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7. Crying at Work
From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Another article that recalls last week's newsletter -- see Joan Schmelz's recent post about how advisor's should deal with student tears. -eds.]

Time Magazine recently published an article about the benefits of crying at work. This article resonated with me because I have cried several times in professional situations. I cried in my thesis adviser's office when a project I had been working on for many years seemed to have failed. I cried in my undergraduate adviser's office as I struggled to write my honors thesis and felt the deadline looming. Most recently, I cried at work when a coworker asked about the loss of my relationship, and was I unable to stifle my emotions about it.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/04/crying.html

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8. 2 Monkeys Were Paid Unequally; See What Happens Next
From: Caroline Simpson [simpsonc_at_fiu.edu]

The TED talk clip below has been making the rounds. It demonstrates a monkey's reaction to less pay for equal work. (It's also pretty funny. I often feel like the underpaid monkey in the video; sometime I wish I could react the same way!).

http://www.upworthy.com/2-monkeys-were-paid-unequally-see-what-happens-next?g=2&c=upw1

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9. Preliminary Proposals for NSF Physics Frontiers Centers
From: WIPHYS Posting for Apr 24, 2013

The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students.

Activities supported through the program are in all sub-fields of physics within the purview of the Division of Physics: atomic, molecular, optical, plasma, elementary particle, nuclear, astro-, gravitational, and biological physics.

Preliminary proposals are due August 5.

To learn more, please see

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13559/nsf13559.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click

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10. APS Opportunities for Grad Students
From: WIPHYS Posting for Apr 24, 2013

** Free Webinar: Putting your Science to Work with Peter Fiske

Are you a physics PhD graduate or working towards a physics PhD, and thinking about your next steps? Are you looking for guidance on how to discover a career which will tap into your talents, abilities, and interests, as well as pay the bills? Then join us on May 7 at 2:00 pm ET for this informative webinar by celebrated author and science career coach Peter Fiske. The webinar is free for all APS Members.

More information is available at

http://www.aps.org/careers/guidance/webinars

** FGSA Travel Award for Excellence in Graduate Research

Graduate students who are members of the APS' Forum on Graduate Student Affair (FGSA) are eligible to apply for a travel award of up to $500. The deadline is May 20 for conferences in the third quarter of 2013 (July 1st – September 30th). Decisions will be made by the end of May.

More information available at

http://www.aps.org/units/fgsa

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11. Must Love Rocks: Stonehenge Is Seeking a 'General Manager'
From: Michele Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]

English Heritage, which manages 420 historic properties across Britain, is looking for "an exceptional senior manager" to oversee the "visitor experience" at one of the world's most famous historic monuments: Stonehenge.

For more information, please see

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/must-love-rocks-stonehenge-is-seeking-a-general-manager/275174

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12. 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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13. 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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14. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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