NGC 6164  

PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

 

 
Women in (Physics and) Astronomy

Despite some gains in recent years, women of color and white women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of physics and astronomy, particularly at the most senior levels. I am involved in several efforts to understand and address the systemic cultural issues and inequities that perpetuate this lack of diversity, as well as to encourage women from all backgrounds to choose and persist in physics and astronomy careers.

  • At DU, I co-chair the NSM Equity and Racial Justice Committee and am part of the iChange and MERISTEM (NSF ADVANCE) teams.
  • With Shannon Murphy and Robin Tinghitella, I co-developed and co-direct DU SciTech, a summer day camp for middle-school girls of color in Denver. In 2021, we published a paper with 9 campers as co-authors.
  • I pioneered a program called Collaborative Research in Astrophysics (CORA) that involves teams of undergraduate women in computational research using SLIP.
  • I was the local organizer for Harvard particle physicist Lisa Randall's recent AIP Gemant Award lecture, which took place at DU in April 2013 in conjunction with the APS April meeting.
  • I was a participant in and contributor to both the Women in Astronomy II: Ten Years After (WiA 2003) and the Women in Astronomy and Space Sciences (WIA 2009) conferences.
  • I organized physical science workshops for local African-American high-school girls at DU's CARE conference in 2012.
  • I compiled a page of statistics on the percentage of astronomers who are women at various career stages (last updated 2008).
  • I helped the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) conduct their 2003 survey of astronomical institutions and compare them with earlier surveys (see summary and full results).
 
Related reading:
 
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein on Medium
The Disordered Cosmos
Female Science Professor
Mahalo.ne.Trash
Ms. Mentor
The Pasadena Recommendations for Gender Equality in Astronomy
Women in Astronomy blog / AASWOMEN newsletter