Friday, August 5, 2016

AASWomen Newsletter for August 5, 2016

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 5, 2016
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Elysse Voyer, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. Astronomer to Museum Project Director  
2. Slight Female Bias in French Science Teacher Exams        
3. Women in physics face big hurdles — still
4. How Vector Space Mathematics Reveals the Hidden Sexism in Language  
5. They Really Do Exist! NASA's 'Ghostbusters' Bust Myths About Careers in STEM
6. Job Opportunities  
7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter


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1. Astronomer to Museum Project Director 
From: Stuart Vogel via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

Below is our interview with Dr. Isabel Hawkins, an astronomer who directs projects and creates materials for the renowned Exploratorium and Smithsonian museums.  

Read more at


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2. Slight Female Bias in French Science Teacher Exams    
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

“The findings of a new study challenge the commonly held notion that a hiring bias contributes to the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields—at least in France. Researchers at the Paris School of Economics compared the scoring of competitive exams used to recruit almost all secondary and postsecondary teachers and professors. The team found a bias in favor of women in math, physics, and philosophy, which increased with the degree of male domination in the field.”

Read more at


Read the journal article at


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3. Women in physics face big hurdles — still
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

Despite the report of some progress in France (see #2 above), the physical sciences are woefully behind when it comes to the number of women at all levels. This is despite the fact that “there are more women in the sciences than ever before. They hold leading faculty and administrative positions while their representation in fields such as biology, sociology and psychology has increased.”

Read more at


Find a collection of journal articles about gender in physics at


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4. How Vector Space Mathematics Reveals the Hidden Sexism in Language
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry_at_yale.edu]

“As neural networks tease apart the structure of language, they are finding a hidden gender bias that nobody knew was there.”

Read more at


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5. They Really Do Exist! NASA's 'Ghostbusters' Bust Myths About Careers in STEM 
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

“[T]he new “Ghostbusters” film, which features an all-female team of scientists and engineers, busts not just ghosts, but also some of the tropes about what it means to work in science, technology, engineering and math. It’s an idea that has scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory excited about how it might inspire the next generation.”

Read more at


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6. Job Opportunities

For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease

- Project Manager, Cal-Bridge and CAMPARE programs

- Support Astronomy, Keck Observatory

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7. 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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8. 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: 


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: 


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9. Access to Past Issues


Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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