By Jessica Noviello When I defended my Ph.D. in June 2019, I didn’t have a job lined up. Part of this was because I was ignorant of the ebbs and flows of the academic job market, but mostly it was because I could not decide what I wanted to do next. My graduate school experience had been unusually bumpy, and the entire process and the inherent instability of research made me reluctant to remain in academia. But what else could I do? A professor in the department offered me a short-term postdoctoral research position to help him finish a project, and I took the job so I could have income while ..read more

This year’s theme is resilience!  We will provide some food for thought but much of the meeting will be reserved for discussion.   Thanks to generous sponsorship from AURA (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy), and the DPS Committee!   To learn more about AURA please visit https://www.aura-astronomy.org/ Date: Tues, Oct 3, 2023 Time:  12:15-1:15 pm Central US time  (the lunch break is 12:00-1:30 but we are leaving 15 min on either side for transition, we will likely setup the lunches in the hallway outside the room so that people can start g ..read more

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a committee on Policies and Practices for Supporting Family Caregivers Working in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Two of the goals of this committee are: Summarize the published research on the challenges faced by scientists, engineers, and medical professionals who are family caregivers (i.e., parents and those with eldercare responsibilities, or both), including research on the impact of COVID-19 these individuals; Document institutional and governmental efforts to support caregivers and the posit ..read more

As part of its commitment to becoming an agent of change and helping to end discriminatory practices and systemic racism, Nature has published a special issue focused on science as “a shared experience” and published several editorials by scientists in various fields. One of them, by planetary geologist Dr. Martha Gilmore, is cross-posted here. Dr. Gilmore presented the 2022 Masursky Lecture at this year’s Lunar and Planetary Science Conference and is the recipient of the 2022 Claudia J. Alexander Prize, which recognizes outstanding contributions by a mid-career scientist. By Kendra Pierre ..read more

This interview was conducted by Mikayla Huffman (see more information at the end of this interview) and Kelsi Singer.  Ellen R. Stofan, PhD Dr. Ellen Stofan is the Under Secretary for Science and Research at the Smithsonian.  She oversees its science research centers as well as the National Museum of Natural History and the National Zoo. The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, Office of International Relations, Smithsonian Scholarly Press and Scientific Diving Program also report to Stofan. Her focus is the Smithsonian’s collective scientific initiatives and commitment to research ac ..read more

Join us for the annual Division for Planetary Sciences Women in Planetary Science event in a hybrid format on October 4, Noon-1 Eastern.  All are welcome!  We will have both online and in person event hosts to facilitate conversation for both types of attendees.  This year the format will be mostly small-group discussions on professional development topics.  A huge thanks(!) to our generous sponsor AURA (https://www.aura-astronomy.org/) for supporting this event again this year.  Please see more details and register for the event at http://bit.ly/DPS_WiPS_2022. &n ..read more

Join us for the annual Division for Planetary Sciences Women in Planetary Science event in a hybrid format on October 4, Noon-1 Eastern.  All are welcome!  We will have both online and in person event hosts to facilitate conversation for both types of attendees.  This year the format will be mostly small-group discussions on professional development topics.  A huge thanks(!) to our generous sponsor AURA (https://www.aura-astronomy.org/) for supporting this event again this year.  Please see more details and register for the event at http://bit.ly/DPS_WIPS_2022. &n ..read more

From LPI, In the News (July 12, 2022) The late Dr. Carolyn S. Shoemaker had a brief, but extraordinary scientific career. In a twelve-year window, she discovered a world record 32 comets, including Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that dramatically plunged into the atmosphere of Jupiter in 1994. She was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene Shoemaker, who led the Apollo 11 and 12 geology teams and helped craft the field of impact cratering science. When Gene died, Carolyn provided funds to the Geological Society of America (GSA) Foundation for an endowment to support student research, with an award ..read more

Dr. Delia Santiago-Materese is the lead Program Officer for NASA’s Solar System Workings research and analysis funding program in the Planetary Science Division (PSD). She also initiated and implemented Dual-Anonymous Peer Review among several funding programs in PSD. Dr. Santiago-Materese has a background in biological sciences and earned her Ph.D., in Earth Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She focused her doctoral studies on understanding the atmosphere of Mars using models and experiments. She spent several years in the Planetary Systems Branch at NASA Ames Research ..read more

Hello all! I normally don’t send out job openings as blog posts but there was a special request on this one to try to reach a wide (and hopefully more diverse) audience :). So here is some info, consider applying and forwarding to anyone you think might be a good fit! Faculty Administrator and Director, Florida Space Institute The Florida Space Institute (FSI), a multidisciplinary center devoted to facilitating and conducting leading-edge applied and basic research and education programs in space-related fields, seeks applications and nominations for a 12-month, non-tenure earning faculty admi ..read more