Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix N: Report of the Panel on State of the Profession and Societal Impacts
Appendix N: Report of the Panel on State of the Profession and Societal Impacts
Pages 498-548
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Nationally, students from underrepresented groups interested in physical sciences are less likely to complete physics and astronomy majors than white students, leading to the persistent underrepresentation of community members in the field relative to their representation in society at large. Racial discrimination and sexual harassment continue, leading to a climate in the field that depresses recruitment of people who identify as female, people of 498
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Equitable access, multimodal expertise, responsible stewardship, and accountability are four values that are defined and discussed in Section N.5. These values are reflected in the founding documents of the federal agencies that support astronomy and are reflected in best practices reported in the literature, white papers and public town halls for the decadal survey, the expertise of the panel, and numerous National Academies reports and consensus studies.
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7. Partnering with Indigenous Communities: Align the values of the Profession with those of Indigenous and other local communities impacted by the Profession to cultivate and sustain healthy partnerships for the benefit of both.
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Pold and R Ivie, 2019, Workforce Survey of 2018 US AAS Members Summary of Results, Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics, https://aas.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/AAS-Members-Workforce-Survey-final.pdf, accessed August 26, 2020.
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7 This section was informed by data collected by the Astro2020 Panel on an Enabling Foundation for Research. 8 See Heising-Simons Foundation, "51 Pegasi b Fellowship in Planetary Astronomy," https://www.hsfoundation.org/programs/ science/51-pegasi-b-fellowship, accessed August 20, 2020.
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Pold, "Astronomy Degree Recipients One Year After Degree," AIP, https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/ astronomy-degree-recipients-one-year-after-degree, accessed August 26, 2020. Comparisons to other fields can be found at AIP Physics Trends, 2020, "What Do New Bachelors Earn?
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FIGURE N.2 The numbers of astronomy degrees earned by African American and Hispanic American students. Left: Bachelor's degrees.
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This underrepresentation was identified as a problem as far back as the 1980 decadal survey.25 Representation of these groups is slightly better in physics departments, although they are not uniformly distributed among the nation's colleges and universities. Indeed, as of 2016 there was only one astronomy department that had representation of both African American and Hispanic American faculty, and roughly two-thirds of astronomy departments had representation of neither.26 Gender representation among astronomy faculty has improved over the past decade.
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, and community engagement (from unidirectionally broader impacts to mutually beneficial community partnerships)
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org/topics/culture#:~:text=jpg,make%20their%20social%20environments%20meaningful, accessed August 18, 2020.
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accountability, which are further described below -- will enable the Profession to foster engagement, increase opportunities for equitable participation in the field, and lay the foundation for lasting scientific excellence in a more diverse nation.39,40,41,42 For example, the Profession's inherently hierarchical structure, based on assumed individual superiority of innate scientific capacity, perpetuates in part by casting the structure of opportunity as a "scientific meritocracy." Meritocracies are well known to reproduce structural inequities by defining merit using metrics that favor historically privileged groups and disadvantage those with different or emerging forms of leadership and expertise.43 The Profession demonstrates commitment to scientific rigor in its pursuit of understanding the universe by conceptualizing and launching successful missions, as prioritized in this and previous decadal surveys. However, the Profession has not prioritized equitable access to the resources available from federal sponsoring agencies in pursuit of that understanding, as evidenced by the large gap between the demographic profile of the Profession and the U.S.
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The field must evolve narrow definitions of scientific rigor into scientific excellence. The panel defines scientific excellence as the equitable optimization of knowledge, infrastructure, and innovations, and includes technical and nontechnical contributors and stakeholders, which produce higher quality48,49,50,51 and more innovative52 outcomes.
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, from submitted white papers, public town halls for the present decadal survey, expertise of the panel, and numerous National Academies reports and consensus studies. In short, the panel has sought to summarize, synthesize, and clarify a minimum set of values that would increase equity in the field of astronomy and astrophysics.
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An equitable professional structurement of the ways that individuals and institutions contribute to scientific excellence and how relationships among various actors impact the Profession. Equitable access accounts for the extent to which there is equity within the organizations that educate the next generation, for whom training is a prerequisite to access career opportunities in the Profession.
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Increasing the number of perspectives, expertise, experiences, and cultural touchpoints makes the process of collaborative work more difficult,70 but the outcomes more just,71,72 innovative,73 and of higher quality.74,75,76,77 This productive friction will encourage scientific excellence while increasing equitable access. Multimodal expertise maps directly to the sponsoring agency value of innovation.
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As is typical for a decadal survey, the primary actors for most of these recommendations are the funding agencies that sponsored Astro2020. However, the panel also includes recommendations for the academic departments, private foundations, observatories, professional societies, government laboratories, and research centers where astronomers work.
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85 NSPIRES, "NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System," NASA Research and Education Support Services, https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external, accessed August 18, 2020. 86 Department of Energy Office of Science, "SC Portfolio Analysis and Management System (PAMS)
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A shared interagency agreement on data collected will ensure that categories and formats are consistent across agencies, follow OMB standards, and allow for benchmarking progress. 90 National Institutes of Health, "NIH Data Book," NIH RePORT, https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook, accessed August 18, 2020.
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101 Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, "Charter," https://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast/aaac/charter.pdf, accessed August 24, 2020. 102 Ideally, these events would take place at different locations that are representative of the broad array of contexts in which professional astronomy is done, which could be a way to support equitable participation.
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106 The AIP National Task Force to Elevate African American Representation in Physics and Astronomy (TEAM-UP) , 2019, The Time Is Now: Systemic Changes to Increase African Americans with Bachelor's Degrees in Physics and Astronomy, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, https://www.aip.org/sites/default/files/aipcorp/files/teamup-full-report.pdf.
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giving student stipends to faculty teams within Ph.D. departments charged with reviewing and updating training and mentoring practice, such as NIH's Institutional Predoctoral Training Grants T32110 and NSF's Research Traineeship Program;111 (b)
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New, and M Thompson, 2019, "Leadership and Participation in NASA's Explorer-Class Missions," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.10314.
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-- Programmatics: $0.25 million/year/agency office for consultant work to change proposal and annual reporting processes.116 N.6.2.4 Increase Funding and Recognition for the People Who Lead the Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement of Individuals from Historically Underrepresented Groups For those who lead the recruitment, retention, and advancement of individuals from historically underrepresented groups, many of whom are members of historically marginalized groups themselves, this important work can take time and energy that compromises their professional well-being and career. 117,118,119 Grants supporting this work (e.g., NSF Scholarships in STEM Program [S-STEM]
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The Profession currently relies on hierarchical leadership structures that oversee teams to achieve collective research goals.121 Leaders also oversee the processes that distribute resources, evaluate performance, and recognize scientific excellence. How leaders are cultivated, and how they are encouraged to lead, will determine the advancement of the Profession and the individuals within it.
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132 NASA Science, "PI Launchpad," https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/pi-launchpad, accessed August 24, 2020.
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136 Office of Personnel Management, "Direct Hiring Authority," https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/ direct-hire-authority, accessed August 24, 2020. 137 Annual; estimates are based on National Science Foundation, 2019, Faculty Development in the Space Sciences, NSF 19-558, Alexandria, VA, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19558/nsf19558.htm.
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Method, impact, and programmatics and cost to achieve this suggestion: • The Profession -- Method: Recognize and reward leadership that demonstrates equity-advancing values in individual evaluations at all career stages -- for example, fellowship applications, awards and review committees, evaluation for tenure and promotion. Account for this leadership when considering service loads within institutions so that scientists from historically underrepresented backgrounds (including people identifying as women)
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. Estimate based on data from 2015–2016, "where 78 percent of full-time students at public 4-year colleges and universities had need remaining after grant aid, averaging $14,400." See College Board, Trends in Student Aid 2019, https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/trends-student-aid-2019-full-report.pdf, accessed August 24, 2020.
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economic prosperity and innovation by limiting the degree to which minoritized populations can obtain and maintain jobs in the Profession and further a deeper understanding of the universe. Since 2018, the National Academies have released four consensus reports that have taken a systemic approach in addressing key issues in higher education and academic research: Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century; Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM; and Minority Serving Institutions: America's Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce.153 Each of the committees created reports that situated the issue of sexual harassment and discrimination within the broader culture of higher education, as the committees perceived that incentive and reward systems are critical drivers of behavior in academia.
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Widnall, and F.F. Benya, eds., "Related Findings and Suggestions," Chapter V and Recommendations 3, 4, 13, and 14 in Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
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Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy: Towards Eliminating Harassment in Astronomy," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.00589.
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Widnall, and F.F. Benya, eds., "Related Findings and Suggestions," Recommendations 4, 13, and 14 in Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
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shows that there are specific instructional practices that consistently achieve better student course outcomes and retention than traditional lectures.180 Collectively known as "interactive engagement," these methods include student-centered instruction and discovery-based learning practices such as peer instruction.181 Sociology and psychology research further demonstrates the importance of student belonging and the impact of stereotype threat, and provides proven classroom methods that improve student performance.182 The low rates at which these methods are applied in STEM courses reduces the 176 SEA Change, "See Change with STEMM Equity Achievement," American Association for the Advancement of Science, https:// seachange.aaas.org, accessed August 24, 2020. 177 Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM)
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189 Association of American Universities, "Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative," https://www.aau.edu/education-communityimpact/undergraduate-education/undergraduate-stem-education-initiative, accessed August 24, 2020. 190 American Association of Colleges and Universities, "Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL)
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193 Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) , "Homepage," https://ep3guide.org, accessed August 24, 2020.
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php? page=Inclusive_Astronomy_The_Nashville_Recommendations, accessed August 24, 2020.
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Pold, 2019, Astronomy Degree Recipients One Year After Degree, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/astronomy-degree-recipients-one-year-after-degree, accessed August 26, 2020. 210 Joint Task Force on Undergraduate Physics Programs: P
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Burkhart, C.K. Chan et al., 2019, "Astro2020: Training the Future Generations of Computational Researchers," white paper submitted to the Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.04460.
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; community engaged research (list of internal policies and external resources provided on Community Engaged Research by The Ohio State University, Office of Responsible Research Practices, https://orrp.osu.edu/irb/ research-participants/community-engaged-research, accessed August 24, 2020) ; and community partnership in forestry practices (U.S.
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-- Programmatics: Benchmark of about 5 percent of the operational budget invested in building partnerships with stakeholder communities.224 N.6.6.2 Build Inclusive Partnerships with International Stakeholders Astronomy is a global, collaborative profession.225 The U.S. community must attend to the well-being of international members and partnerships or it puts ongoing scientific excellence at risk.
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Ironically, even as we search for habitable worlds, the Profession's large carbon footprint is decreasing the habitability of our own planet.229 226 AAS could partner with the IAU to make resources available to support international scholars -- for example, through the USNCIAU committee, https://aas.org/comms/usnc-iau-committee, accessed November 13, 2020. 227 Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers, https://www.astrowestafrica.org/about, accessed August 24, 2020.
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Pacifici, I Momcheva, and STScI Women in Astronomy Forum, 2019, "Enhancing Conference Participation to Bridge the Diversity Gap," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.10996.
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The above provides a foundation upon which community values may be realized. N.6.7.1 Mitigate the Negative Impact of Past Engagement Around the Summit of Maunakea as Part of a Larger Effort to Build a Functional Partnership with Local Indigenous Communities Lack of an authentic partnership with Kanaka Maoli (the Indigenous people of Hawai'i)
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The following methods suggest a path forward that begins and ends with Indigenous stakeholders and protectors of the land. It relies upon the inherent integrity of the Profession to pause all construction, listen to Indigenous communities, and engage in ethical practices that build trust and fundamentally acknowledge Indigenous personhood.
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The construction of TMT, the means by which it is realized, and its impact on Kanaka Maoli have to be recognized within the larger context of Hawaiian history.b,c,d Failure to do soe,f,g has led to several iterations of major delays,h,i arrests,j.k.l rulings,m,n,o and governor-issued directivesp since the groundbreaking ceremony was disruptedq in 2014.r New construction on Maunakea has seen falling public support.s As of December 2019, Governor Ige of Hawai'i has withdrawn state law enforcement owing to the $15 million cost surrounding safe access to the summitt simultaneously met by halted construction of TMT.u Furthermore, continued access to observatories in current operation at the summit is intermittently obstructed.v All investments to date are at risk if these issues are not resolved with a long-term plan in place. Instead, the value of these investments and the integrity of the Profession is realized should the Profession work in collaboration with Kanaka Maoli.
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Neilson, 2020, "A Native Hawaiian-Led Summary of the Current Impact of Constructing the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea," community input from submission, January 9, https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2001/2001.00970.pdf. h TMT construction delayed -- 11 Apr 2015, khon2, http://khon2.com/2015/04/11/thirty-meter-telescope-construction-delayed, accessed August 24, 2020.
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• TIO, Held Accountable by Funding Agencies -- Method: Fund initiative(s) for stakeholders who have an interest in Maunakea, including Kanaka Maoli cultural knowledge holders, to open a respectful and continuous dialogue around informed consent, where Kanaka Maoli are included in the TMT/TIO leadership.
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The addition of the optics of world-class facilities, occupied by non-Indigenous people, on Indigenous lands, can deepen distrust for the Profession in some Indigenous communities. Initiatives that aim to build mutually respectful and culturally relevant partnerships with Indigenous communities are shown251 to significantly increase support for the Profession from local Indigenous stakeholders -- and more broadly STEM -- and to open culturally supported pathways for Indigenous youth to enter the Profession.
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Optimally, these would include funding for efforts to build strong, long-term research partnerships with large institutions/big data centers/collaborations with the aim of developing culturally supported pathways for full participation of Indigenous people in science careers. -- Impact: Provides equitable access and increases multimodal expertise.
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The panel has outlined a multi-faceted program to leverage funding to recognize, motivate, support, and hold accountable workplaces built on equity-advancing values; reimagine leadership to benefit from the multimodal expertise of our full community; use that leadership to end discrimination and harassment; remove barriers to education and training to ensure equitable access to knowledge and full participation in astronomy at all career stages; build meaningful partnerships with astronomy's local and global communities in recognition that a truly inclusive astronomy is inseparable from every one of the spheres it inhabits; and partner with Indigenous communities in order to cultivate and sustain healthy partnerships (e.g., Goal 6) for mutual benefit.
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. Rebalance funding Institute Training Grants, Early Career Awards, Leadership Programs, Physics Education Research, priorities.
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