Women in Physics and Astronomy at SFSU

Come listen to Dr. Kimberly Ennico-Smith speak about the future of mapping water on the Moon! This will be on Wednesday, April 28th, with Dr. Ennico-Smith's talk at 3:30 PM PDT and a Q&A with students and faculty at 4:30 PM PDT. The meeting ID will be 869 5125 3535 and the password will be 012345. Abstract and bio below. -... "A next great leap in mapping water on the Moon" While the existence of lunar volatiles has been known since the Apollo era, only more recently (the last 10-20 years) has the extent and form of these volatiles been better understood. It now appears that potentially economically significant amounts of water ice exist at the poles of the Moon, however, the distribution of this water is still not understood at a level sufficient to fully evaluate economic models. NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission presents an opportunity to identify and characterize water ice and other potential resources at the human or rover scale. VIPER can ground-truth hypotheses made from decades of orbital data and evolving modeling about the lunar water cycle. This talk summarizes the motivations for, the design of, and the significance of this mission. VIPER is scheduled to be launched as a payload on the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) provided Astrobotic Griffin lander to a lunar polar region. - Dr. Kimberly Ennico-Smith is a research astrophysicist and mission scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. She is multidisciplinary in her approach to space instruments, telescopes, and mission concepts. She has designed and built infrared airborne and space telescope cameras and spectrometers, tested detectors in laboratories and particle accelerators, designed low-cost suborbital instruments, and built lunar payloads. She has served as Project Scientist for the flying infrared observatory SOFIA and deputy Project Scientist on the New Horizons Pluto fly-by mission. She has been a member of the Science and Technology Definition Team for the Origins Space Telescope. Presently she is a deputy Project Scientist on the lunar VIPER rover. She has authored 120+ peer-reviewed papers and delivered 50+ invited technical talks and 70+ public presentations about astronomy, space exploration and STEM. Asteroid 154587 Ennico is named for her.

This is today in a few hours! We hope to see you there.

WIPAA invites you to join in our forum on parenting, pregnancy, and child-rearing while in academia. The forum will be held on Zoom on Wednesday, March 17th, at 3:30 PST. If you have questions you'd like to be answered in the forum, or other questions about the forum, please email us at [email protected].

Magnifying Voices in Physics (MVP) is a speaker series hosted by WiPA at UCI in response to the longstanding underrepresentation of women and non-binary folks of color in physics. Once a quarter, we will invite an early career scientist to share their research as well as their path through academia. We hope to provide a platform to support and highlight these folks to foster a more inclusive environment and motivate aspiring physicists. This quarter, we are honored to introdu...ce our first MVP: Isabel J. Rodriguez (they/elle or she/ella) Title: Journey to the Center of GW170817 Institution: Oregon State University Date: Thursday, February 18th Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm PST Zoom Registration: https://uci.zoom.us///tJcpc-uopjwjHtERCngWZrnw-GnOn5BQlkJx Bio: Isabel J. Rodriguez (they/elle or she/ella) is a Master's student in physics at Oregon State University, whose research combines astrophysical data with statistical tools to study the properties of binary neutron star merger outflows. Isabel is the founder and host of a virtual coworking space for women and non-binary people of color in STEM, and is dedicated to challenging systems of oppression in STEM higher education through a Black queer feminist lens. You can find them on Twitter as @astrophisacist.

The deadline is this Friday!

Hello folks, I have created a LinkinIn page for the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Please Follow Us.... https://www.linkedin.com/company/sfsu-physics-astronomy Use our hashtags: #SFSUPhysicsAstronomy #SFSUPhysics #SFSUAstronomy Please feel free to send me any RELEVANT news that you would like to advertise on our LinkedIn page!

Hi Students in Physics, WiPA at UC Irvine is organizing a panel on applying to grad school with current women in physics grads! Join us and get your questions answered about applying to grad school, and learn some tips and tricks to help with your application. We will have grads from different subfields as well as an international grad student. The panel will take place next Friday Nov 6th from 1-2pm. If you would like to attend, please fill out this form so we can collect yo...ur email to send you the Zoom info. https://docs.google.com//1FAIpQLSftExNiAq_D-eU1K/viewform Hope to see you there! See more

This is today! We hope to see you there.

From APS: receive funding to start a new Women in Physics group, expand an existing group, or improve sustainability in an existing group. Deadline for applications for funding is November 6th, 2020 at 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern. More details here: https://www.aps.org/progra/women/scholarships/wipgrants.cfm

RSVP at t.ly/2aZe

The SFSU community is invited to a screening of the award-winning documentary "Picture a Scientist." The screening will be available for 72 hours starting October 23rd. On October 26th, at 7PM, there will be a live discussion of the issues women scientists face, which will be open to ALL, including those who did not watch the film. The panel will be hosted by Carmen Domingo, Dean of the College of Science & Engineering; it will feature faculty and graduate student panel membe...rs and will be moderated by Karina Nielsen, executive director of the Estuary & Ocean Science Center. To register for the event, go to this link, which has more details: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/picture-a-scientist-screening- About the film: "PICTURE A SCIENTIST chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Biologist Nancy Hopkins, chemist Raychelle Burks, and geologist Jane Willenbring lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights. Along the way, from cramped laboratories to spectacular field stations, we encounter scientific luminaries - including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists - who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all."

WIPAA is holding a forum on immigration experiences Monday, October 19th from 3:00-3:50 PM PDT. Our very own professors, Dr. Akm Newaz and Dr. Maarten Golterman will be on our upcoming panel, as well as a guest speaker, Barbara Pinto, Co-Founder and Managing Attorney of Immigrant Legal Defense. We would be honored if you could attend and/or spread the word about our upcoming forum. Please email any questions for the panelists to answer to [email protected]. Zoom link: https://sfsu.zoom.us/j/99521812759 (or you can use the meeting ID/passcode in the flyer)

PAC is organizing virtual study spaces for some upper division courses. If you'd like to be added to the list of students who have access to the Zoom meeting for your class(es), contact [email protected].

Hello folks. The Physics and Astronomy Anti-Racist Coalition (PAARC) is putting together this great event. Check it out! "Pursuing a PhD or Masters is one of the many options available with your physics or astronomy degree after college. Attending graduate school is a great way to continue learning about a subject on a deeper level and gain specific skills for future careers, in addition to being the next step on the road to an academic career. However, students of color and ...first-generation college students may face unique challenges in applying to and succeeding in graduate school. If you are an undergraduate student interested in applying to graduate school for Physics or Astronomy, or are wondering what that experience could look like for you, we invite you to attend our panel on Applying to Graduate School in Physics and Astronomy as a Person of Color on October 1st at 2-4pm PST/ 3-5pm MT/ 4-6pm CT/5-7pm EST. The panelists are current Physics/Astronomy graduate students of color that will share their experiences and answer questions about graduate school. This event will be hosted by the Physics and Astronomy Anti-Racism Coalition (PAARC, a grassroots collective of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in physics and astronomy dedicated to engaging in anti-racism work across institutions and supporting physicists and astronomers of color.)" Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/120489771149/"

Come dialogue social justice with the SFSU community in this series of talks. We look forward to seeing you there!

Join WIPAA for our first monthly forum! This month we will be talking to Dr. Joseph Barranco, Dr. Kim Coble, and Dr. Maarten Golterman about teaching methods. The forum will be held on Zoom at 3 pm on Monday, September 21st, before colloquium (see the flyer for meeting details). If you have questions you'd like to submit ahead of time for the professors to answer, send them to the email at the bottom of the flyer by 5 pm on Tuesday, September 15th. Hope to see you there!

Here's a new video from Astronomers for Planet Earth! Check it out and spread the word! I'm sure we would all appreciate a little positivity on our feeds and in our life

Day #2/20: Should we be talking about climate change at a time like this? There are many parallels between the COVID-19 and climate crises. Both seemed like p...roblems that were occurring "somewhere else" or were only a threat "in the future." Now COVID-19 is a problem that affects everyone, right now. And, in more subtle ways, climate change does too. While there is no evidence that climate change has affected the spread of COVID-19, it is clear that it is influencing the spread of infectious diseases in general. And COVID-19 will impact climate change. For example, social distancing will make it harder for hotshot crews to fight forest fires, fires that are more severe because of global warming. COVID-19 and climate change are therefore intertwined. It's easy to forget that climate change is still happening, and that it is a much larger problem. Like COVID-19, it's a problem where good decision making early in the crisis is critical. As bad as climate change has gotten, the good news is that we can still avoid the worst. So we need to keep talking.