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Register a new userAstro2020 APC White Paper: Findings and Recommendations from the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy: Advancing the Career Development of Women in Astronomy
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The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) is calling on federal science funding agencies, in their role as the largest sources of funding for astronomy in the United States, to take actions that will advance career development and improve workplace conditions for women and minorities in astronomy. Funding agencies can and should lead the charge to produce excellent diversity and inclusion outcomes in our field by the 2030 Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Anecdotal and quantitative evidence, gathered both by the CSWA and other groups, shows that many structural barriers to success remain in our community. We acknowledge the success of programs like NSF-INCLUDES and NSF-ADVANCE and endorse their continued work. We also recommend further action to remove barriers to success for women and minority astronomers. Key recommendations are: - Federal agencies should push academic institutions to reconsider their support systems for scientists by requiring a high standard of pay and benefits. - Federal agencies should fund research and programs that explore and implement strategies for improving the experiences of scientists. - Federal agencies should require Principal Investigators (PIs) to provide plans for creating inclusive work environments and mentoring young scientists.
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The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) is calling on federal science funding agencies, in their role as the largest sources of funding for astronomy in the United States, to take actions that will end harassment, particularly sexual harassment, in astronomical workplaces. Funding agencies can and should lead the charge to end harassment in astronomy by the 2030 Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Anecdotal and quantitative evidence, gathered both by the CSWA and other groups, shows that harassment is prevalent and damaging for women and minority astronomers and those in related fields. Actions recommended herein will increase the rate of reporting of harassment to agencies and improve their ability to investigate and take action against harassers. We also recommend that agencies participate in harassment prevention by creating and implementing the best anti-harassment education possible. Key recommendations are: - Federal agencies should improve their ethics policies by making harassment a form of scientific misconduct. - Federal agencies should mandate that institutions report to them when a funded Principal Investigator (PI) or co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) is found to be a perpetrator of harassment. - Federal funding agencies should provide online guides to help scientists identify harassment and connect them to the right resources for making confidential or official reports. - Federal agencies should create and ensure the implementation of anti-harassment trainings by making them a requirement of receiving grant funding.
Commodity cloud computing, as provided by commercial vendors such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, has revolutionized computing in many sectors. With the advent of a new class of big data, public access astronomical facility such as LSST, DKIST, and WFIRST, there exists a real opportunity to combine these missions with cloud computing platforms and fundamentally change the way astronomical data is collected, processed, archived, and curated. Making these changes in a cross-mission, coordinated way can provide unprecedented economies of scale in personnel, data collection and management, archiving, algorithm and software development and, most importantly, science.
As the oldest science common to all human cultures, astronomy has a unique connection to indigenous knowledge (IK) and the long history of indigenous scientific contributions. Many STEM disciplines, agencies and institutions have begun to do the work of recruiting and retaining underrepresented minorities, including indigenous, Native American and Native Hawaiian professionals. However, with the expansion of telescope facilities on sacred tribal or indigenous lands in recent decades, and the current urgency of global crises related to climate, food/water sovereignty and the future of humanity, science and astronomy have the opportunity more than ever to partner with indigenous communities and respect the wealth of sustainable practices and solutions inherently present in IK. We share a number of highly successful current initiatives that point the way to a successful model of collaboration with integrity between western and indigenous scholars. Such models deserve serious consideration for sustained funding at local and institutional levels. We also share six key recommendations for funding agencies that we believe will be important first steps for nonindigenous institutions to fully dialog and partner with indigenous communities and IK to build together towards a more inclusive, sustainable and empowering scientific enterprise.
In response to the need for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey to explicitly engage early career astronomers, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted the Early Career Astronomer and Astrophysicist Focus Session (ECFS) on October 8-9, 2018 under the auspices of Committee of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The meeting was attended by fifty six pre-tenure faculty, research scientists, postdoctoral scholars, and senior graduate students, as well as eight former decadal survey committee members, who acted as facilitators. The event was designed to educate early career astronomers about the decadal survey process, to solicit their feedback on the role that early career astronomers should play in Astro2020, and to provide a forum for the discussion of a wide range of topics regarding the astrophysics career path. This white paper presents highlights and themes that emerged during two days of discussion. In Section 1, we discuss concerns that emerged regarding the coming decade and the astrophysics career path, as well as specific recommendations from participants regarding how to address them. We have organized these concerns and suggestions into five broad themes. These include (sequentially): (1) adequately training astronomers in the statistical and computational techniques necessary in an era of big data, (2) responses to the growth of collaborations and telescopes, (3) concerns about the adequacy of graduate and postdoctoral training, (4) the need for improvements in equity and inclusion in astronomy, and (5) smoothing and facilitating transitions between early career stages. Section 2 is focused on ideas regarding the decadal survey itself, including: incorporating early career voices, ensuring diverse input from a variety of stakeholders, and successfully and broadly disseminating the results of the survey.
(Abridged) In this white paper, we outline the major barriers to access within the educational and professional practice of astronomy. We present current best practices for inclusivity and accessibility, including classroom practices, institutional culture, support for infrastructure creation, hiring processes, and outreach initiatives. We present specific ways--beyond simple compliance with the ADA--that funding agencies, astronomers, and institutions can work together to make astronomy as a field more accessible, inclusive, and equitable. In particular, funding agencies should include the accessibility of institutions during proposal evaluation, hold institutions accountable for inaccessibility, and support efforts to gather data on the status and progress of astronomers and astronomy students with disabilities.
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