todreamofspace

Hi from NJ! (waves)

As someone who also has advanced degrees in Astronomy and Physics, where do you think you'll be in your research 10-15 years from now? Also, have you ever thought of advocating for astronomy education in schools or any type of inquiry-based ast/phy education?

As a female in the physical sciences, sometimes we have a bit of pushback from golden age professors. Did you experience any form of misogyny during undergraduate studies when looking for guidance, research opportunities or recommendations for graduate school?

Thanks for answering my questions! :)

I must have glazed over the fact that you're still in undergrad. I thought you were in the thick of grad school!

I graduated from undergrad 12 years ago and actually had the opposite experience. I experienced misogyny from Astro profs but all of my phy profs were either really supportive or neutral! Staring at my breasts in a group of people to "read my shirt" was such a great and needed experience, but he was well revered and published his own textbook (that we used). Another Astro prof, who I really enjoyed taking 3 classes with, told me that I would be a better teacher than researcher, b/c there were "already too many journeyman in the astronomy research field." He wrote the shittiest 3 paragraph recommendation for grad school. It really soured my view on the department. I, also, have never been able to truly reconcile if my mistreatment was b/c I was a woman, gay or both. On the flip side, I had a great grad school experience, but I focused on helping advance inquiry-based physics education under a female professor with a lot of clout in such research within the physics community.

Good luck on grad school! Where are you looking to go?

Sick username! My macro/micro prof (80something little Jewish man) had a huge hard on for Janet. He would talk about her non-stop in macro. She was even a question on one of our midterms!

Just had to comment, bc this gave me quite a laugh :)