Friday, May 20, 2016

AASWomen Newsletter for May 20, 2016

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of May 20, 2016
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Elysse Voyer, & Heather Flewelling

This week's issues:

1. The Surprising Lessons Depression Taught Me

2. "Phynd the Physicist": A Game to Open Dialog About Inclusion in Physics

3. "I had so many advantages, and I barely made it": Pinterest engineer on Silicon Valley sexism

4. How careers in STEM can close the wage gap for women

5. An inside look at what it's like to be a female STEM major

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


1. The Surprising Lessons Depression Taught Me

From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Today's guest post is by Nicole Cabrera Salazar. Nicole is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at Georgia State University. She plans to pursue a career in science communication/outreach focusing on equity in STEM.]

Back in December I opened up about taking a break from writing my dissertation to focus on my mental health. As scary as it was to walk away from research, it turned out to be the right choice for me. Here, I highlight the lessons I learned during this difficult time.

Read more at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-surprising-lessons-depression.html

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2. "Phynd the Physicist": A Game to Open Dialog About Inclusion in Physics

From: Daryl Haggard via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[Today's guest blogger, Misty Bentz, is an Assistant (nay, Associate!) Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University. Misty is an expert at making black hole mass measurements using reverberation mapping techniques, which she uses to study the broad line region and the relationship between AGN and their host galaxies. Misty's post is the second in a new series of blogs (the first is here) that describe how instructors tackle social justice issues in their physics and astronomy classrooms.]

For the past few years, I have been teaching a required course for entering physics majors, "Gateway to Physics", at Georgia State University. The course is intended to introduce students to the wide world of exciting physics research and (hopefully) kindle their enthusiasm for studying physics even as they work through their introductory courses.

...

When I took over the course a few years ago, I wanted to address many of the stereotypes that students were likely to bring into the classroom with them. These include stereotypes about what science is and how science works, but also stereotypes about scientists themselves.

Read more at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2016/05/phynd-physicist-game-to-open-dialog_18.html

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3. "I had so many advantages, and I barely made it": Pinterest engineer on Silicon Valley sexism

From: Meg Urry [meg.urry_at_yale.edu]

by Tracy Chou

My path to a career in software engineering should have been simple. I grew up in Silicon Valley, the child of two software engineers with computer science PhDs. I went to high school in Mountain View-the land of Google. Later, I went to college at Stanford University, where our university president was a computer scientist who had made a fortune in microprocessors. During the summers, I interned at Facebook and Google.

But even though I was completely immersed in tech culture, I had trouble envisioning a career in software engineering for myself. The issue wasn't a lack of interest or ability. It was that the sexism I encountered, both in school and in the workplace, had me convinced that I wasn't just good enough to make it in tech.

Read more at

http://qz.com/659196/i-had-so-many-advantages-and-i-barely-made-it-pinterests-tracy-chou-on-sexism-in-tech

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4. How careers in STEM can close the wage gap for women

From: [elysse.voyer_at_.com]

by Debora McLaughlin

April 12 was recognized as Equal Pay Day. Nationally, businesses offered discounts of 21% to women and women's advocates. Both the number 21 percent and the date April 12 are symbolic of the gap between men's and women's wages: Women working full time in the U.S. only made 79 cents for every dollar a man made in 2015.

Twenty-one cents doesn't sound like much, yet if you do the math, this means women would have to work over three months extra each year to close the gap.

We know that time does not expand and the impact, over time, is worse than we can imagine.

According to a recent study by the National Women's Law Center, over a 40-year career span, women earn more than $400,000 less than their male counterparts. With a life span of more than five years than that of males, imagine the impact in their ability to self-support with less income and retirement funds.

Read more at

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/careers-stem-close-wage-gap-women-article-1.2636272

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5. An inside look at what it's like to be a female STEM major

From: Elysse Voyer [elysse.voyer_at_gmail.com]

by Emma Kinery

For female students pursuing STEM degrees, the gender barrier may not always be explicit, but it's pervasive. Through increasing the visibility of mentors and encouraging girls to try STEM activities early on, many feel the gender barrier can be dismantled.

USA TODAY College reached out to five women pursing STEM degrees at institutions across the country to hear their experiences of being a woman in a male-dominated major.

Learn more here

http://college.usatoday.com/2016/05/12/an-inside-look-at-what-its-like-to-be-a-female-stem-major

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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

- Physics Instructor Position, Northern Arizona University
http://www.nau.edu/hr

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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:

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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9. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to aaswlist+unsubscribe@aas.org.

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