AAS Diversity Committee Wrapped 2024

In anticipation of AAS 245, Astrobites is carrying out a year-in-review for the AAS diversity and inclusion committees, summarizing their work over the past year, highlighting what they have accomplished, and outlining ways that you can get involved (either online or in-person at the AAS meeting)! 

CSWA

The first diversity-focused committee, the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA), was established in 1979, tasked with identifying ways for the AAS to “support gender equity and the success of women in astronomy.” This past year, the committee — which is composed of 12 members who serve staggered, three-year terms — continued engaging with a number of the initiatives proposed in their 2020 decadal strategic plan. In particular, CSWA has focused their efforts on coordinating several community-wide surveys related to equity in career progression and inclusivity in the field and has begun analyzing and distributing their findings.

For starters, led by Prof. Nicolle Zellner and Gracie Bagdon, the committee published the results of a survey analyzing biases in the participation of press conference presenters at the AAS meetings. This survey, which was distributed to press conference participants between 2010-2022, found that non-White and female scientists found significantly more value in these conferences (they were more likely to report feeling like their participation had positively impacted their careers) compared to their White male counterparts, but were less likely to have participated in multiple press conferences. In turn, it also demonstrated that demographic parity in press conference participation improved considerably following the implementation of dual-anonymous peer review (DAPR) in the abstract selection process, which was introduced in 2018. To learn more about their findings and recommendations for the AAS, see their paper! 

In a related vein, the CSWA distributed a survey in December 2022 focused on understanding academic career trajectories and promotion rates for astronomers at the intersection of multiple identities and is currently working on the analysis of these results. They are also planning a complementary survey for employees of non-academic institutions that they hope to distribute soon.

More recently, three committee members, Profs. Gregory Rudnick, Pat‬ Knezek,‬‭ and‬‭ Nicolle‬‭ Zellner, have just completed a pair of papers based on a community survey from 2019. These papers — which are slated to be released in early 2025 — feature a number of recommendations for the AAS focused on building inclusive spaces for women in the field. In total they synthesize their findings into 26 major and 22 minor recommendations grouped into four categories: “the need for an Office of Diversity and Inclusion within the AAS; recommendations to prevent harassment and bullying; recommendations to advance career development; [and] recommendations to improve AAS meetings.” These, in conjunction with recommendations from other committees, will be utilized by a new AAS Task Force in the coming year to develop a list of priorities and a plan for the AAS to tackle issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion moving forward.

In addition to these larger scale surveys and policy recommendations, the CSWA also manages a series of regular publications. In particular, the committee manages a Women in Astronomy blog which features original articles and crossposting of other content relevant to women in astronomy and they distribute a weekly AASWomen newsletter. This past year they created a new career profile series through the blog and their NASA intern, Libby Fenstermacher, has led a new video interview series called “Space for Students,” which features interviews with students identifying as women in astronomy!

Looking to the upcoming AAS winter meeting, CSWA will be hosting a number of events in addition to their booth at the grad school and REU fair. First, there will be a hackathon focused on brainstorming solutions to some of the issues that women face in astronomy. This will take place on 1/13 from 1-3:15 pm. On 1/14, they will be hosting a networking dinner in collaboration with 1400 Degrees, an organization focused on creating community spaces for women and gender minorities in physics and astronomy (if you’re interested in attending, RSVP here).

To stay posted about CSWA’s events, sign up for the AASWomen newsletter here!

CSMA

The Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA) was the next diversity-focused group that was created by the AAS. Established in 1997, the CSMA’s mission is to “enhance the participation of underrepresented minorities in astronomy at all levels of experience”. Similarly to the CSWA, the CSMA has 11 members who serve staggered three year terms. Over the past year, the CSMA hosted a number of sessions and events at conferences throughout the year.

In January, at the AAS winter meeting in New Orleans, LA, CSMA was one of the organizers of the Rainbow Village, a gathering space in the meeting exhibit hall created by the CSMA in partnership with BlackInAstro, the League of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy (LUMA), and VanguardSTEM. With this space they facilitated discussions about the status of minorities in astronomy and gave folks an opportunity to relax and decompress from the stresses of a large conference environment (for more details, see Astrobites’ overview of the Rainbow Village and a recap of their events). 

Also at that meeting, a former committee co-chair, Dra. Nicole Cabrera-Salazar, led a special session introducing a Task Force on Poverty in Astronomy, which itself is led by CSMA member Dr. Carlos Vargas. As described by fellow committee member KeShawn Ivory, this session “served as the prologue to the opening of a survey on poverty in astronomy created by the Task Force to characterize the issue of poverty as a systemic barrier in astronomy, and quantify its scope and scale.” This survey was distributed broadly within the astronomy community over the past year and the Task Force plans to lead another special session at the upcoming Winter AAS meeting (on 1/14 from 10-11:30 AM) to discuss the findings and present possible solutions to the issues identified.

Later in the year, CSMA co-chair Dr. Laura Lopez led a session at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) meeting in October focused on building community in astronomy and featured speakers with experience in fostering community initiatives. The following month, the other co-chair Dr. Greg Mosby hosted some booths and chaired sessions at the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP)/National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP) joint meeting in November.

Looking forward to AAS 245, CSMA will also be hosting a booth at the grad school and REU fair and will be hosting a networking dinner in collaboration with BlackInAstro. They’re also going to be leading two sessions during the week: the Poverty Task Force discussion and a session on Wednesday 1/15 from 2-3:30 titled “The Impact of Identity in Space Science Advancement.”

To stay posted about CSMA events, sign up for their newsletter by emailing [email protected]!

SGMA

The most recently created of the AAS diversity committees, the Committee for Sexual-Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy (SGMA), was founded in 2012 with the goal of “promot[ing] equality for sexual-orientation and gender minorities (SGMs)” in astronomy. SGMA has 14 members who serve terms of variable lengths. Through the past year, SGMA created and continued a number of initiatives focused on building community and distributing resources for LGBTQIA+ astronomers. 

At the winter AAS meeting in New Orleans, SGMA continued its tradition of hosting a community-wide meet and greet, which featured updates on committee activities and opportunities for networking. During the conference, SGMA also held an “LGBTQ+ Walking Tour of the French Quarter” that served as an opportunity for community members to socialize and network outside of the more professional conference spaces. Though it was not formally involved in organizing the Rainbow Village, SGMA did also participate in RV activities. 

During the year, SGMA began compiling a list of LGBTQIA+ astronomers into a Queer Speaker List that they plan to distribute to departments and can be used when planning colloquia, seminars, etc. For astronomers interested in being added to the list, feel free to fill out the google form here! This list will be hosted on the SGMA website in Spring 2025.

Mid-year, the committee held a virtual meetup for community members on GatherTown and plans to continue holding such meetings moving forward. In addition, they are developing a minigrant program by which departments can solicit funds to host meetups for queer astronomers at their own institutions. For more information, reach out to SGMA here.

Looking to the upcoming winter AAS meeting, SGMA plans to host another city tour coincident with the conference. This time, they’ll be doing a bus tour around Washington DC focused on LGBTQIA+ and female perspectives. To find out more information about this event and sign up, , see here.

To stay posted about SGMA events moving forward, sign up for their newsletter here!

WGAD

Finally, the Working Group on Accessibility and Disability (WGAD) is the youngest diversity-focused group in the AAS, founded in 2016,  and as such is still a working group, rather than a committee. Broadly, their goal is to promote inclusion and equity of opportunity for disabled astronomers at all career stages — for a discussion about some of the accessibility issues that astronomers face, see this astrobite. While they haven’t yet had too many activities to share, they are currently looking to grow and would welcome any interested members. As they begin to ramp up activities and plan for the new year, they’re especially excited to solicit input from the community, so if you’re interested in getting involved, please feel free to contact the group’s current chair, Dr. Allyson Bieryla!

Astrobite edited by Kat Lee

Featured image credit: AAS