The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) and the AAS Committee on Employment have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers both inside and outside of academia. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those various paths.
Below is our list of participants, with links to the blog posts showcasing their responses (if there's not a link, it just means the response hasn't been posted yet — stay tuned). Some are external links pointing to the CSWA Women in Astronomy blog or the AstroBetter blog.
If you have recommendations for additional participants, please email the person's name, email address, and field of work to Laura Trouille Northwestern University.
Administration
Consulting
- Anonymous — Boston Consulting Group, Consultant
- Joseph Pesce — Omnis, Inc, CEO
Data Science
- Jessica Kirkpatrick — Director of Data Science at InstaEDU
- Alicia Oshlack — Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Head of Bioinformatics
- Stephanie Gogarten — University of Washington, Research Scientist in Statistical Genetics
- Anonymous — Traffic Data Analyst
Defense
- Anonymous — Federally Funded Research and Development Center, Research Staff
- Eileen Chollet — Center for Naval Analyses, Research Analyst
- Eric Rubenstein — Image Insight, Inc., President
Finance
- Melissa Nysewander — Fidelity Investments, Principal Data Scientist
- Anonymous — Large American Bank, Researcher
- Anonymous — Small Hedge Fund, Researcher
Government
- Sethanne Howard — US Naval Observatory, Chief of the Nautical Almanac Office (retired)
- Cara Rakowski — US Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Examiner
- Anonymous — European Union, Policy Analysis
Industry
- Andre Wong — Teledyne Imaging Sensors, ASIC Design Engineer
- James Marshall — INNOVIM, Senior Staff Scientist
Management
- Doris Daou — NASA Lunar Science Institute, Associate Director
- Kim Nilsson — Pivigo Recruitment, Managing Director
- Bernadette Rodgers — Gemini Observatory (South), Head of Science Operations
Museums
- Doug Roberts — Adler Planetarium, Astronomer & Associate VP for Digital Technologies
- Anonymous — Science Museum, Education & Public Outreach Officer
Science Communication/Writing/Publishing
- Leslie Sage — Nature, Senior Editor
- Rick Fienberg — AAS, Press Officer
- Lisa Frattare — STScI, Master Image Processor & Summer Student Program Coordinator
- Monica Young — Sky & Telescope, Web Editor
Software
- Patrik Jonsson — SpaceX, Software Engineer
- Amy Nelson — Disney Interactive Worlds, Software Engineer
Teaching & Learning
- Andy Cantrell — Blake School, Mathematics Teacher
- Anonymous — Online Learning Company, Researcher
- Anonymous — High School Science Teacher
Soft Money
Academia
- Edmund Bertschinger — MIT, Physics Department Head
- Caroline Simpson — Florida International University, Associate Professor of Physics
- Bryan Gaensler — University of Sydney, Professor of Physics; Australian Laureate Fellow; Director for the Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Physics
- Joan Schmelz — University of Memphis, Professor
- Andria Schwortz — Quinsigamond Community College, Associate Professor of Integrated Science
- Agnes Kim — Penn State Worthington Scranton, Assistant Professor of Physics
- Anonymous — Large Research 1 University, Lecturer (non-tenure track)
- Anonymous — Community College in California, Professor of Astronomy
- Meredith Hughes — Wesleyan University, Assistant Professor of Astronomy
- Douglas Arion — Carthage College, Professor of Physics & Astronomy; Professor of Entrepreneurship; Director of Carthage Institute of Astronomy; President of Galileoscope, LLC
- Anonymous — Small Liberal Arts College, Associate Professor of Physics
- Anonymous — Small Liberal Arts College, Assistant Professor of Physics
- Anonymous — Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Astrophysicist (retired)
- Christine Jones — Smithsonian Institution, Senior Astrophysicist; Director of Smithsonian Consortium on Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe
- Anonymous — University & Observatory, Associate Professor & Project Scientist
National Labs
- Neil Gehrels — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Chief of Astroparticle Physics Laboratory
- Anonymous — NOAO, Assistant Scientist
- Anonymous — Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Researcher