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to about 18,500 in 2007 17 . However, minority groups remain underrepresented at the Master’s and PhD levels and in the professional workforce in these fields. This under-representation might be overcome by creating programs to bridge minority undergraduates from physics, computer science and engineering into Master’s programs that would allow them to enter the astronomical workforce directly or to move on to a PhD. Given the increasing numbers of minority undergraduates in physics, computer science, and engineering and the current workforce needs in astronomical computation and instrumentation, recruitment into astronomy and astrophysics careers and Ph.D. programs could be pursued. One way to accomplish this bridge would be to encourage strategic partnerships 18 with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) including Historically Black Colleges, as well as with the National Societies of Black and Hispanic Physicists. A related path would be to encourage graduate programs to recruit for their Master’s and PhD candidates at minority-serving institutions. Role models are important in any field, and have been particularly crucial in improving the number of women astronomers. Using Harlow Shapley lectureships proactively to target students in MSIs, and rebuilding NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Program to engage STEM students in mission-related work, are two ways to provide role models to minorities. Finally, the committee suggests that the federal agencies establish a competitive program of summer programs and leaves of absence for teachers from MSIs with a proven record of educating minority scientists, to participate in research at national facilities and research universities. Programs like this, if thoughtfully managed, would provide a bridge for minority students from a Bachelor’s to an advanced degree. It is important that the success of such programs be monitored and serious metrics for success be established at the outset, providing an opportunity for longitudinal tracking of minority students and learning how to improve programs through their experience. CONCLUSION: Little progress has been made in increasing the number of minorities in astronomy. Agencies, astronomy departments, and the community as a whole need to refocus their efforts on attracting members of underrepresented minorities to the field. The following are some approaches that can be adopted in order to help in the attraction and retention of minorities in astronomy: • Targeted mentoring programs; • Partnerships of community colleges and minority serving institutions with research universities, and national centers and laboratories; • Expanded funding for programs that ease the transition of individuals across critical junctures in the pipeline—high school to college, community college to university, baccalaureate to graduate school; • Funding for master’s to phd programs, • Cross-disciplinary training as an on-ramp to astronomy and astrophysics careers; and • Family-friendly policies. Women in Astronomy Historically, women were once as underrepresented in professional astronomy as minorities are today, especially as faculty members. Now, there is ongoing progress towards parity, although still a shortfall relative to the general population. The fraction of astronomy graduate students that are women has increased from a quarter to a third over the past decade, and the fraction gaining PhDs and occupying 17 See http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/degrees.cfm. 18 Promising examples of programs along these lines have been established at the University of Washington, Columbia University, and in a partnership between Vanderbilt University and Fisk University. PREPUBLICATION COPY—SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTION 4-20
assistant and associate professor positions is also a quarter. However, only 11 percent of full professors are women, fortunately a proportion that is likely to improve as more women advance up the ranks. The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy of the AAS works as both a focus group on these important issues and as a support/mentoring group for female members of the AAS across professional ranks. The arguments for seeking gender equality parallel those advanced for the corresponding goal for underrepresented minorities. Interestingly, the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program has achieved nearly 50 percent women in astronomy summer research assistantships. One promising approach for increasing women in the field that has been adopted by some schools is to target undergraduate women for Master’s programs that act as a bridge into the profession. The efficacy of these programs should be monitored, and if they are proven to be successful, they should be supported more widely. In addition, two pressure points have been identified. The first is that in middle school, girls frequently lose interest in mathematics and science 19 . Astronomy can have a role to play in keeping young women interested in science through high school. After-school programs and camps have been supported by NSF in particular, and need to be assessed for their effectiveness in drawing girls into science. The second pressure point arises when professional and family pressures collide and women, in particular, find their pursuit of an academic career derailed. Approaches that can be adopted in order to help in the attraction and retention of women in astronomy include targeted mentoring programs and family-friendly education and employment policies. Practical steps that have been proposed to help include allowing parental leave, assisting with childcare, assisting with spousal employment, and allowing delay of the tenure clock 20 . CONCLUSION: The gender gap in astronomy has diminished significantly, although women still occupy only a small percentage of the most senior positions. Astronomy departments and the community as a whole need to continue work to promote gender equity at all levels. 19 See http://www.sallyridescience.com/. 20 National “Women in Astronomy” meeting 2003, resulting in the “Pasadena Recommendations,” endorsed by the American Astronomical Society PREPUBLICATION COPY—SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTION 4-21
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fi
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COMMITTEE FOR A DECADAL SURVEY OF A
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Panel on Stars and Stellar Evolutio
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DOUGLAS FINKBEINER, Harvard Univers
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SPACE STUDIES BOARD CHARLES F. KENN
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activities 2 that have emerged from
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In addition to the 27 panel meeting
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers This re
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The Accelerating Universe 2-26 The
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APPENDIXES A Summary of Science Fro
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light up the universe, marking the
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RECOMMENDED PROGRAM Maintaining a b
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TABLE ES.4 Space: Recommended Activ
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Cosmic Dawn: Searching for the Firs
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this imprint would both probe funda
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important outcome will be to open u
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estimated to be on the order of $20
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observatories. For NASA an annual b
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surveys of large fields, enabling s
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RECOMMENDATION: U.S. investors in a
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departments and the community as a
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dominate spending; (2) private-publ
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us was certainly evident during the
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BOX 2-1 Other Worlds Around Other S
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FIGURE 2‐2 The source 3C 75, show
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FIGURE 2‐3 Numerical simulation o
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FIGURE 2‐4 Left panel: Image of t
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FIGURE 2‐6 Top: Schematic of the
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Most stars with masses smaller than
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BOX 2-2 The Origin of Planets After
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send material raining into the cent
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BOX 2-4 Lifecycles in Galaxies One
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Page 78 and 79: An important clue to the nature of
Page 80 and 81: Studying the properties of neutron
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Page 84 and 85: partners and makes recommendations
Page 86 and 87: As astronomy research has blossomed
Page 88 and 89: are increasingly relevant. The Euro
Page 90 and 91: TABLE 3-1 Currently Operating OIR F
Page 92 and 93: 29% 1990 44% US Priv US Fed Other E
Page 94 and 95: CONCLUSION: Complex and high-cost f
Page 96 and 97: Space Observatories The Laser Inter
Page 98 and 99: Physics Division (PHY); the Mathema
Page 101 and 102: 4 Astronomy in Society Astronomy of
Page 103 and 104: FIGURE 4‐2 The dust sculptures of
Page 105 and 106: FIGURE 4‐5 President Obama takes
Page 107 and 108: Astronomy Inspires in the Classroom
Page 109 and 110: teaching the scientific method. The
Page 111 and 112: where the fraction of astronomers h
Page 113 and 114: Percentage of AAS Membership by Fie
Page 115 and 116: 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 PL SO IM AG SF IN S
Page 117 and 118: FIGURE 4‐12 Number (top panel) an
Page 119: Professional training needs to acco
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Page 126 and 127: THEORY Emerging Trends in Theoretic
Page 128 and 129: Central to the Galaxies across Cosm
Page 130 and 131: TABLE 5‐2 Support for astrophysic
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Page 134 and 135: FIGURE 5‐7 Highly cited HST publi
Page 136 and 137: y optical and radio astronomers are
Page 138 and 139: FIGURE 5‐8 Number of PhDs per yea
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Page 142 and 143: nulling interferometry. The appropr
Page 144 and 145: FIGURE 5‐9 The richness of the su
Page 146 and 147: RECOMMENDATION: NASA and NSF suppor
Page 148 and 149: FIGURE 6‐1. All sky map as observ
Page 150 and 151: FIGURE 6‐3 NASA mission cost over
Page 152 and 153: FIGURE 6‐5 Gemini North with Sout
Page 154 and 155: TOWARD FUTURE PROJECTS, MISSIONS, A
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Page 163 and 164: FIGURE 7.1 Survey time line showing
Page 165 and 166: SCIENCE OBJECTIVES FOR THE DECADE T
Page 167 and 168: Box 7.1 Implementing a Cosmic Dawn
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optical imaging of brighter galaxie
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Box 7.3 Implementing the Physics of
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FIGURE 7.2 Multiwavelength images o
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Recommendations for New Space Activ
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FIGURE 7.4 Science accomplishments
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significance of mergers in the buil
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independent advice committee review
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committee review. It could range be
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Laboratory Astrophysics As describe
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Recommendations for New Ground-Base
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Program for instrumentation and fac
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excel at high spectral and spatial
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The committee reviewed a technical
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FIGURE 7.10 ACTA would be, like the
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Advanced Technologies and Instrumen
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LISA as soon as possible subject to
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FIGURE 7.14 DOE recommended program
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A Summary of Science Frontiers Pane
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PLANETARY SYSTEMS AND STAR FORMATIO
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A preliminary recommended program w
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certified as independent work perfo
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penalty based on an assessment of s
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The results show excellent correlat
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$12 MILLION TO $40 MILLION RANGE CM
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decadal research strategy with reco
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CFP CHIPSat CIP CGRO CMB CMU CoBRA
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NRC NSB NSF NSF-AGS NSF-ARC NSF-AST
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