Issue 20-48, October 20, 2020
+————————————CONTENTS—————————————-+
- AAS/DPS FEDERAL RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE (FRS) ACTION ALERT
- UPCOMING DPS ITEMS OF INTEREST
- DPS 2020 EXHIBITORS
- #DPS2020 CAREER CENTER: ADVERTISE YOUR JOB OPENINGS!
- DPS ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS SUBCOMMITTEE (DPSEAS) SEEKING NEW MEMBERS
- DPS PROFESSIONAL CLIMATE AND CULTURE SUBCOMMITTEE (PCCS) SEEKING NEW MEMBERS
- TEACHING ASTRO 101 ON-LINE: TIPS, TRICKS, AND LESSONS LEARNED
- JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
+——————————————————————————————–+
1———1———1———1———1———1———1———1———1———1
AAS/DPS FEDERAL RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE (FRS) ACTION ALERT
The AAS is moving quickly to take action against the Department of Homeland Security’s new
rule aiming to limit the duration of international students’ visas. Since the newly restricted visa
durations of 2 or 4 years, varying by type and country of origin, are well below the timeline for
typical completion of a PhD this new regulation would severely impact numerous members of
the planetary community.
Many professional societies, including AAS, are writing organizational responses to this policy
while also encouraging their individual members to utilize this website developed by the American
Physical Society:
The period of comment to DHS is through October 26th, so we are calling on all of our members
to take action right away to amplify our messaging. This APS site puts a nice wrapper email around
your personal points and anecdotes, which can be brief. The process took me two minutes in total.
An example sentence for your customized message is:
In addition to the countless academic and cultural benefits they bring to our campus, international
students contributed nearly $41 billion and supported more than 458,000 jobs in the U.S. economy
during the 2018-9 academic year.
Another site would allow you to go a step further to contact your congressional representatives with
a (perhaps less effective) form letter:
https://www.connectingourworld.org/app/onestep-write-a-letter?0&engagementId=491995
The DPS FRS and AAS’s Committee on Astronomy and Public Policy (CAPP) are working to respond
to additional regulatory topics, including a recent executive order regarding diversity training. Be sure
to tune in to our DPS Meeting NASA-NSF Town Hall on Tuesday Oct. 27 at 17:00-18:00 EDT to discuss
additional policy issues, listed under “Public Events” on our main meeting page: https://aas.org/meetings/dps52.
Kurt Retherford, FRS Officer
2———2———2———2———2———2———2———2———2———2
UPCOMING DPS ITEMS OF INTEREST
* The DPS Members Meeting will be held, for DPS meeting registrants, on Oct 28, 1-2PM ET. This is
your chance to nominate a colleague for the DPS Nominating Subcommittee! Please come prepared with
a name (and make sure that person is present and ok with being nominated), to be entered in the Zoom chat
window. Voting for the Nominating Subcommittee new members will be done via Google Forms (please be
sure to have a google account set up so you can access Google Forms).
* The Decadal Survey Townhall will be open to the public, Thurs Oct 29, 4:30-5:30PM ET. Check https://aas.org/meetings/dps52 for the Zoom link.
* The NASA-NSF Townhall will be open to the public, Tues Oct 27, 5:00-6:00 PM ET. Check https://aas.org/meetings/dps52 for the Zoom link.
* Open Mic Night is Thursday Oct 29, 9:00-midnight ET. Email Joe Spitale ([email protected]) to participate!
* check the #DPS2020 peripheral events page (https://aas.org/meetings/dps52/peripheral-events) for more exciting events, such as:
Student & Early Career Reception
Women in Planetary Science Discussion Hour
LGBTQ+ Networking Meetup
Planetary Science Art Fair
Exhibit Hall
DPS Career Center
Scientists of Color Meet-Up
Social Hour + Trivia Games (with prizes from Startorialist!)
Daily Science Chats
Decadal Survey White Paper Discussion Hour
Workforce Townhall
3———3———3———3———3———3———3———3———3———3
DPS 2020 EXHIBITORS
Thanks so much to our wonderful sponsors of the 52nd DPS meeting!
Don’t forget to visit the Exhibit Hall during DPS week!
Gold Exhibitors/Partners/Sponsors
AAS Publishing (Gold Sponsor – Pre-meeting Training)
Planetary Data System (Gold Partner)
Universities Space Research Association – USRA (Gold Sponsor – Press Room)
Silver Exhibitors/Partners/Sponsors
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy – AURA (Silver Sponsor – Women in Planetary Science Event)
Elsevier (Silver Sponsor – Planetary Scientists of Color Meetup & Underrepresented Minority Travel Grant)
Southwest Research Institute (Silver Sponsor – Student and Early Career Reception)
Space Telescope Science Institute (Silver Partner)
TREX – (Silver Sponsor – Open Mic Night – NO EXHIBIT)
Bronze Exhibitors/Partners/Sponsors
Ball Aerospace (Bronze Sponsor)
NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (Bronze Partner)
NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (Bronze Partner)
Planetary Science Institute (Bronze Partner)
Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System (Bronze Partner)
University of Central Florida, Department of Physics (Bronze Sponsor)
Exhibitors
Astro Haven Enterprises
Caltech/IPAC
DPS Career Center
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Space Dynamics Laboratory
STARtorialist (Donor of Prizes for Game Nights)
University of Arizona Press
4———4———4———4———4———4———4———4———4———4
#DPS2020 CAREER CENTER: ADVERTISE YOUR JOB OPENINGS!
At the upcoming DPS meeting (Oct 26-30), we will be hosting a virtual career center
with job resources and opportunities to connect job seekers with job listers.
Employers, this is a fantastic opportunity to advertise your job openings to lots of job-
seeking astronomers, geologists, and space scientists! Please consider listing (for free!)
your job openings in the DPS jobs register here: jobs
Questions: contact [email protected]
https://aas.org/meetings/dps52
5———5———5———5———5———5———5———5———5———5
DPS ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS SUBCOMMITTEE (DPSEAS) SEEKING NEW MEMBERS
DPS Environmental Affairs subcommittee (DPSEAS) is looking for new members. The purpose
of the subcommittee is to provide insight and recommendations to the DPS Committee and members
on environmentally sustainable actions. If interested in joining, please contact the DPS secretary
([email protected]) by November 2 indicating your interest in joining DPSEAS, background information
about yourself, and your motivation to join the subcommittee. For more information on DPSEAS, see
leadership/environmental-affairs.
6———6———6———6———6———6———6———6———6———6
DPS PROFESSIONAL CLIMATE AND CULTURE SUBCOMMITTEE (PCCS) SEEKING NEW MEMBERS
Are you interested in making the planetary science community more diverse and
inclusive? If so, please contact [email protected] by Oct 30 to volunteer to be
part of the DPS Professional Culture and Climate subcommittee (PCCS). A list of
our charge, duties, and expectations can be found at: leadership/climate .
You also can speak with any current PCCS members (listed at above site) and, in
particular, you are welcome to contact Co-Chair Serina Diniega ([email protected]).
At the DPS meeting, PCCS efforts will be described a bit at the DPS Members meeting
(Oct 28, 1-2pm EDT) and with the PCCS Plenary speaker (Oct 30, 12:45-1:40pm EDT).
To express interest in becoming a PCCS member, please send an email to [email protected]
by the end of the DPS meeting (Oct 30), including (1) why you are interested, (2) a
brief description of any EDIA work you’ve already done, and (3) a brief statement on
what you might hope to accomplish with the PCCS. Comments about past or potential
future work by PCCS are also welcomed, as always.
7———7———7———7———7———7———7———7———7———7
TEACHING ASTRO 101 ON-LINE: TIPS, TRICKS, AND LESSONS LEARNED
A Thread at the 2020 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific on Astronomy Education
Dec 3-5 (On-line)
https://astrosociety.org/get-involved/events/asp2020-a-virtual-conference/
A group of us are organizing a series of panels and short presentations at this meeting on
the challenges of teaching Astro 101 virtually. This will be a group of sessions devoted to “progress
reports” about best practices in on-line teaching, learning, assessment, and survival.
We invite you to join us by sharing your knowledge or experience, or simply by listening
and joining in the session discussions. A modest number of “scholarships” (paying the registration
fee) will be available for instructors (including part-timers) in community colleges and other institutions
that do not have professional development funds.
The thread will be divided into the following six main topics:
1. Running Your Class Online
Guidance for how to get your class online NOW
Norms for online classrooms
What active learning looks like online (both synchronous and asynchronous)
Tricks and tips (in Zoom, Canvas, and other platforms)
Accessibility and diversity issues
Seeing to the mental health of students and instructors
2. Astronomy Labs Online
Virtual lab activities: what works, what doesn’t
Use of robotic telescopes
Virtual environments that permit lab experiences
3. On-line Assessment
What else can you do besides old-fashioned testing?
Frequent, flexible mastery quizzes or higher-stakes exams?
Secure testing, cheating sites, and electronic tools
Equity in grading
How do you assess how YOU are doing as an instructor?
4. Observing Sessions, Campus Planetarium, Student Citizen Science, etc.
Virtual observatories or star parties
Virtual or distanced planetarium visits
Authentic student research opportunities
5. Students Working in Small Groups
Breaking up is not hard to do: tools and tips
Asynchronous and synchronous group projects, discussions
6. Resources for Virtual Learning and Teaching
On-line books and other tools
Simulations and where to find them
Useful apps and websites for Astro 101
Some panelists and presenters have already been selected, but there is lots of time available
to contribute to any of these six topics. If you’d like to present, we ask that you submit an abstract:
https://astrosociety.org/get-involved/events/asp2020-a-virtual-conference/abstract-submissions/
(Be sure to read the guidelines posted there about abstract submissions.)
On the abstract, please tell us:
1. that you want to be part of the Astro 101 Thread;
2. which of the six main topics (above) you want to be grouped under;
3. whether you’d like to be part of a panel (50-min topical session) or do a short presentation (10-min oral).
The oral presentations will be grouped into sessions with others tackling similar topics.
You don’t need to be a world-class expert to contribute. If you have useful experience about things that
worked or things to avoid in on-line teaching, consider sharing it with your peers.
If you have questions about the meeting program for this thread, you can contact Andrew Fraknoi
at [email protected] (Questions about meeting logistics should be directed to [email protected] )
8———8———8———8———8———8———8———8———8———8
JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
A) ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS (ASTRONOMY)
Albion College
Albion, Michigan
content/assistant-professor-physics-astronomy
B) POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS/PLANETARY PHYSICS, CENTER FOR MATTER AT ATOMIC PRESSURE (CMAP)
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York
content/post-doctoral-fellowship-theoretical-astrophysics-planetary-physics-center-matter-atomic
C) RESEARCH SPACE SCIENTIST
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama
content/research-space-scientist
D) POSTDOC WITH MAVEN’S IMAGING ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROGRAPH TEAM
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
content/postdoc-mavens-imaging-ultraviolet-spectrograph-team
E) RESEARCH SCIENTIST II, PLANETARY AND EXOPLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California
content/research-scientist-ii-planetary-and-exoplanetary-atmospheres
———————————+
Send submissions to:
Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected])
You are receiving this email because you are a DPS member.
To unsubscribe or update your information, please send your request
to [email protected]. The more general AAS privacy policy is available
online at https://aas.org/about/policies/privacy-policy. Current and back
issues of the DPS Newsletter can be found at newsletters
–>