Women in Planetary Science in the News
Dr. Margarita Marinova of NASA Ames was featured in Space Daily yesterday. Click through to read about her work Mapping Microbialites.
Demographics
Well, friends, I have some news. Last week I presented a poster at the Low Cost Planetary Missions 9 Conference about the mismatch that I perceived between the NASA AO requirement for PI experience and the available experience out there in the community — particularly those who will be eligible to propose to the next AO. I did a demographic study of all planetary scientists who have officially served in the positions of Principal Investigator (PI), Deputy PI, Project Scientist (PS), and Deputy PS on all planetary science missions selected since 1977. Since only a portion of those were PI-led, I added all the instrument PIs for flagship, New Millenium, and other non-PI-led missions.
I counted ’em up.
That’s right. Each and every one.
And what I found was a little surprising.
There are a good number of our colleagues who have served in the first four roles on planetary science missions selected since 1979. But when you make one simple cut, almost all of them fall away.
I made a chart, plotting each investigator by Ph.D. year, and then removed the earliest degree years, those who were likely to be retiring at or before the next AO selection. Now, before you get upset with me, let me caveat this by telling you how conservative this selection criterion was – taking a typical age of 28 at Ph.D., I selected only those who would still be under 65 by the time the next mission was selected. With a four-year development period and strawman five year mission lifetime, this excludes only those investigators who will be 74+ when their spacecraft reaches its target. I’m not saying they can’t propose. Sure they can! But bear with me for the sake of argument. When you make that one simple cut, and exclude those PIs and deputy PIs (but not the others) with missions currently in development, a surprising thing happens.
Only 3 PIs, 11 PSs, and ZERO deputy PIs will be available and under 65 at the next mission selection.
Whoa.
Deputy PS adds another 11. Instrument PIs add 16. Co-Investigators? 50.
But the question is, what experience would NASA consider sufficient, as judged by the most recent and the standard AO?
The only written requirement for personnel seeking to win the role of PI is that his or her qualifications and experience be commensurate with the technical and managerial needs of the project; “the commitment, spaceflight experience, and past performance of the PI and of the implementing institutions will be assessed against the needs of the investigation.”
And if you haven’t held one of these documented roles before, how do you PROVE that you have the spaceflight experience and past performance?
I’m out on a limb here. I know that. I challenged the mismatch publicly at the conference last week, with nice results:
1. NASA has modified the Standard AO to now specifically evaluate the PI in conjunction with the PM and their team – a change that Carlos Liceaga announced at the panel that we served on on Thursday. [MSNBC: Space on a budget balances risk vs. innovation.]
2. An article in Nature News, published both print and online this morning. [Nature: NASA faces dearth of mission leaders.]
But there’s another message that I hope this sends to scientists looking to become Principal Investigators one day —
1. GET EXPERIENCE.
2. Document it. Whatever experience you have – as a super-involved Co-I, as a postdoc working with the Principal Investigator on a flight mission, as someone with instrument building experience – write it down and figure out how to make that part of your work shine on your bio when you submit your first proposals as a PI, Co-I, or Participating Scientist. It’s your responsibility to prove to the evaluators that you’re ready.
And if you don’t have the experience yet to document? See #1.
This post was based on a paper accepted to the Low-Cost Planetary Missions 9 Conference and submitted to Acta Astronautica.
Solar Electric Propulsion Mission Concept Studies
At the 9th Annual Low Cost Planetary Missions Conference last week, I heard over and over how helpful funded mission concept studies can be in the planning of a future proposal. (Full disclosure: the latest mission concept study for Discovery was run by my husband. Bygones.) If your team is considering proposing a mission that includes solar electric propulsion, you might want to check out the following SHORT NOTICE solicitation described in the blurb below, first seen on the Planetary Exploration Network newsletter – which should also be required reading for planetary scientists!
[NASA] SOLAR ELECTRIC PROPULSION DEMONSTRATION MISSION CONCEPT STUDIES
NASA has issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeking proposals
for mission concept studies of a solar electric propulsion system
demonstration to test and validate key capabilities and technologies
for future exploration missions.
This Solar Electric Propulsion Demonstration Mission Concept Studies
announcement (NNC11ZMA017K) is open to all non-government United
States institutions, academia, industry and nonprofit organizations.
NASA anticipates making multiple firm-fixed-priced awards with a
total value up to $2 million.
NOIs due: July 5
Proposals due: August 4
Responses must be submitted electronically via the NASA Solicitation
and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) at:
Every organization that intends to submit a proposal in response to
this BAA must be registered with NSPIRES, and such registration must
identify the authorized organizational representative(s) who will
submit the electronic proposal.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is managing the broad
agency announcement for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
and relevant technology activities for the Office of the Chief
Technologist.
Source: Planetary Exploration Network email newsletter. If you’re not already on this list, join it today!
Planetary Science Workforce Survey Announcement
Just how many planetary scientists are there working in the US?
And how did they get to their current positions?
The American Institute of Physics is conducting a NASA-sponsored survey of the workforce in planetary sciences. If you are a member of AGU, DPS/AAS, the Meteoritical Society or attend LPSC then you will likely receive an email request to fill in an online survey.
In the meantime, a survey of 48 US academic departments that include planetary science was completed this spring.
Description of the project and results of the department survey are posted here.
- Thanks to NASA for sponsoring this and Fran Bagenal for making it happen!
Nancy Chabot is a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. Nancy has a B.A. in Physics from Rice University and a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL). She is an expert in the study of meteorites, particularly as an experimental cosmochemist. In fact, Nancy loves meteorites so much she has gone to Antarctica 5 times as part of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program! Nancy is also the Instrument Scientist for the Mercury Dual Imagine System (MDIS) onboard the MESSENGER spacecraft, currently orbiting Mercury. Most recently, Nancy published a paper titled “Partitioning behavior at 9 GPa in the Fe-S system and implications for planetary evolution” in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Read more…
Mercury’s surprises
The MESSENGER press conference today covered one Mercurian year in orbit and featured woman-in-planetary-science Brett Denevi speaking about new surface features revealed in high-resolution images – clusters of rimless pits.
“The etched appearance of these landforms is unlike anything we’ve seen before on Mercury or the Moon,” says Brett Denevi, a staff scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., and a member of the MESSENGER imaging team. “We are still debating their origin, but they appear to have a relatively young age and may suggest a more abundant than expected volatile component in Mercury’s crust.”
See the press release and supporting material here. Great job Brett!!
The Cuteness Factor
Guest-blogging on The Planetary Society’s blog today, woman-in-planetary-science Melissa Rice argues that part of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit’s success in connecting with the public is because
Women in Planetary Science is going to ASP 2011!
We’re going to ASP 2011!
The 2011 meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific will be held 30 July – 3 August in Baltimore, MD, with the theme “Connecting People to Science.” While this site was formed to connect professionals and students currently working in planetary science, we see real value in the resources for future planetary scientists as well. We welcome all who are interested to read and participate here on the site. The abstract focused on the 51 Women in Planetary Science project, with the contributors listed as co-authors below:
Women in Planetary Science: A New Resource
Susan M. Niebur1, Kelsi Singer2, Kathryn Gardner-Vandy3
Fifty-one interviews with women in planetary science are now available as a teaching resource on WomeninPlanetaryScience com. Women in Planetary Science was founded in 2008 to connect communities of current and prospective scientists, to amplify discussions of career progress of women, and to stimulate discussion in the planetary science community at large with frequent provocative essays by a dozen collaborators. Interviews covering career path, achievements, and advice for prospective scientists fill an often-overlooked gap in the movement to encourage young women in science. Although women now earn substantial numbers of bachelor’s degrees in Earth Science (30%), Astronomy (30%), and Physics (17%), the number of women in research and teaching positions rapidly diminishes to less than 7% of full professors in the physical sciences. As a result, many students have never even met a female science professor. The latest AAS survey showed 17% of top Astronomy departments had no female professors at all; no department had more than three. To increase student exposure to successful female role models at all levels of academe, government, research institutions, and industry, new interviews were published weekly and archived on a web site regularly promoted through social media including an active Twitter account, Facebook page, Pinterest pins, and RSS feed. Interaction in all those venues is encouraged; there is ample opportunity for readers to comment or contribute their own essays, ideas, and questions in a Web 3.0 model. Both readers and collaborators span a range of ages and employment scenarios. The 51 Women in Planetary Science interviews are a standing resource, with additional e-mentoring available through the blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, where we have just begun crowdsourcing images and links for all women in planetary science. Work was partially supported by NASA Outreach Supplement to Contract NNH08CC65C. Find us at http://womeninplanetaryscience.com.
Are you going to ASP 2011? Leave a comment or tweet us @womenplanetsci — We’ll see you there!
Friday Fun: Pinterest
Do you Pinterest? We do!
Check out http://pinterest.com/susanniebur/women-in-planetary-science/ for a bulletin board of women planetary scientists – and if you’d like to add pictures to the board too, just leave a comment with your email address (it won’t be published) and we’ll be happy to add you as a Pinterest contributor!
We’re working on pinning the 47 women featured in our special section — they’ll all be up soon!
Changing Mindsets to Promote Women and Girls in Science
Next Monday, June 13, I will be attending a symposium at the U.S. State Department called “Changing Mindsets to Promote Women and Girls in Science.” Speakers include Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones, Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain, Ambassador Ufuk Gokcen, NASA Associate Director for Policy Dr. Rebecca Spyke-Gardner, AAAS Head of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs Dr. Shirley Malcom, NSF’s Dr. Jong-On Hahm, NIH Deputy Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health, NSF Advance Program Director Dr. Kelly Mack, and many others.
The event is an outcome of the recent UN Commission on the Status of Women; it supports
Women Atop Their Fields Dissect the Scientific Life
The New York Times science section ran a short but good article this week interviewing four female scientists at the top of their games in different disciplines. They way I read it, they all took different paths but came out with similar messages: science is hard but rewarding, so if you want to make it, you’ve got to make it work for you. Here’s the URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/science/07women.html
Nicolle Zellner
azalucha
barbylon
baryonic
elakdawalla
Emilie Royer
Erin
geochemom
interplanetsarah
Jordan M Bretzfelder
Kat Gardner-Vandy
Kelsi Singer
lostrack621
lovenstars
ryannwatkins
sandrift
squawky
Susan Niebur
