At least three Women in Planetary Science bloggers attended the Women and Mars Conference last week in Washington, D.C. I was invited to speak on the first panel, and it was a very interesting one.
Dr. Colleen Hartman, Assistant Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, moderated the panel, asking us questions about our own background as well as planetary science at large. Linda Billings from George Washington University contributed statistics on recent Mars missions, noting the gender distribution in various areas. Cassie Conley, NASA SMD’s Planetary Protection Officer, spoke about planetary protection and its importance for future Mars missions. Tiffany Montague from Google showed Google’s contributions to providing access to space exploration achievements in innovative ways. I spoke about the current situation for women in planetary science in particular, calling out several issues and providing some recent statistics that I’d be happy to share with you if there is interest.
Media coverage of the conference was overshadowed by NASA’s announcement of MSL’s launch readiness, but the Agency French Presse did put out an article that was picked up by newspapers and media outlets around the globe, including Cosmos Magazine, France 24, The Times of India, Daily Mail (UK), Hindustan Times, Sri Lanka Daily News, and Emirates 24/7. Here’s a link to one appearance of the article, published on the web site for Cosmos Magazine.
Did you watch any of the conference in person or (now archived) on Livestream? What intrigued you, or made you curious to learn more?