Joan T. Schmelz

Last updated
Joan T. Schmelz
Joan T. Schmelz.jpg
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (BS, MS)
Pennsylvania State University (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields Heliophysics
Institutions University of Memphis, NASA, Rhodes College, National Science Foundation, Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
Thesis Investigations of Extragalactic Hydroxyl  (1987)

Joan T. Schmelz is the associate director for science and public outreach at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) for the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). [1] Previously, Schmelz was the deputy director of Arecibo Observatory and the director of USRA Operations at Arecibo from 2015 through 2018. [2] Before joining USRA, Schmelz was an NSF program director in the Astronomical Sciences Division, where she oversaw the Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship program, and a professor of physics at the University of Memphis from 1996 to 2017. Schmelz's research focus is heliophysics, specifically investigating the coronal heating problem as well as the properties and dynamics of the solar atmosphere. She uses spectroscopic and image data in the X-ray and ultraviolet wavelength ranges obtained from NASA satellites and rockets. [3] She has published over 80 refereed scientific journal articles and authored three books.

Contents

Schmelz was the chair of the American Astronomical Society's (AAS's) Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy for 6 years (two terms) and has been the vice president of the AAS since June 2018. [4] In December 2015, Schmelz was named by the scientific journal Nature as one of the ten people who mattered in 2015 because of her significant work as a voice for women in science, specifically because of her behind-the-scenes efforts to expose sexual harassment in science. [5]

Education and career

Joan T. Schmelz obtained her bachelor's degree in physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1980 and stayed for an additional two years to complete a master's degree in physics. Her master's thesis was titled "Variability in T Tauri Stars". During her time as a master's student, she won the physics department award for outstanding teaching. [3] She then attended Pennsylvania State University, completing a PhD in astronomy with her dissertation "Investigations of extragalactic hydroxyl". [6]

After completing her PhD, Schmelz worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center where she was part of the operations team for the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite. She worked at NASA for five years before working as an assistant professor at Rhodes College. She held this position for four years before moving to the University of Memphis. [3]

At the University of Memphis, Schmelz is the director of the solar physics lab. [7] To study the coronal heating problem, her lab uses data from the Solar EUV Research Telescope and Spectrograph (SERTS) instrument, SOHO, TRACE and Yohkoh. [3] She is also a frequent visitor to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and was a program officer for the National Science Foundation's Division of Astronomical Sciences. [8]

Joan Schmelz was the deputy director of Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico [9] and is now the associate director for science and public outreach at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) for the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).

Promoting women in science

Since the fall of 2013, she has been the program director for the NSF's Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships (AAPF). [10] She also served as the chair of the American Astronomical Society's Committee on the Status of Women [11] for two terms (a total of six years which ended in August 2015) and a contributor for the Women in Astronomy blog where she has written posts on sexual harassment, unconscious bias, patriarchy, balancing work and life, as well as many other topics relevant to women in astronomy. [12] [8]

In January 2014, she participated in the Northeast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics by giving a talk on unconscious bias at Penn State. This is a topic she frequently covers in lectures and she often recommends investigating the origins of patriarchy (for example, Merlin Stone's 'When God Was A Woman') to understand the small numbers of women in science. [13] [14]

Besides participating in the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, she has given many invited talks at Caltech, JPL, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, UT Austin, Space Telescope, the University of Maryland, MIT, the National Science Foundation, and NASA headquarters on Women in Science. [12] [8]

Schmelz plays an active role assisting young women astronomers seeking guidance after facing sexual harassment and other forms of harassment within astronomy. "There's no office that will keep a confidential complaint [regarding sexual harassment] on file until, for example, they get a second confidential complaint from another person. That's one of the things I’d like to see going forward. The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy had been acting like that, and I had been acting like that in a very informal way." [12] Regarding Geoff Marcy's sexual harassment complaints and resignation from Berkeley, Schmelz was quoted in the New York Times : "This should put sexual harassers on notice: No one is too big to fail". [15]

Schmelz was named as one of the top ten people that mattered in 2015 by the journal Nature for her significant work as a voice for women in science, specifically because of her behind-the-scenes efforts to expose sexual harassment in science.[ citation needed ]

Discrimination lawsuit

In 2015, married couple James Richardson and Elizabeth Sternke, both astronomers, alleged that Schmelz discriminated against them during her deputy directorship at Arecibo Observatory because of their age, and because Richardson is legally blind. [16] The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which investigates workplace bias, found Schmelz's behavior toward Richardson included "direct discriminatory age based comments," and that the couple was wrongfully terminated as a result of retaliation when Schmelz learned of their complaints. [17] According to the lawsuit, Schmelz "marginalized and ostracized" Richardson and Sternke.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksander Wolszczan</span> 20th and 21st-century Polish astronomer

Aleksander Wolszczan is a Polish astronomer. He is the co-discoverer of the first confirmed extrasolar planets and pulsar planets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Marcy</span> American astronomer

Geoffrey William Marcy is an American astronomer. He was an early influence in the field of exoplanet detection, discovery, and characterization. Marcy was a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at San Francisco State University. Marcy and his research teams discovered many extrasolar planets, including 70 out of the first 100 known exoplanets and also the first planetary system around a Sun-like star, Upsilon Andromedae. Marcy was a co-investigator on the NASA Kepler mission. His collaborators have included R. Paul Butler, Debra Fischer and Steven S. Vogt, Jason Wright, Andrew Howard, Katie Peek, John Johnson, Erik Petigura, Lauren Weiss, Lea Hirsch and the Kepler Science Team. Following an investigation for sexual harassment in 2015, Marcy resigned his position at the University of California, Berkeley.

Eric E. Becklin is an American astrophysicist. The primary focus of Becklin's research is infrared imaging and spectroscopy, including the search for brown dwarfs, the detection of circumstellar dust rings, the dynamics and composition of the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and the nature of luminous infrared galaxies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anneila Sargent</span> Scottish-American astronomer

Professor Anneila Isabel Sargent FRSE DSc is a Scottish–American astronomer who specializes in star formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universities Space Research Association</span> Independent, nonprofit research corporation to advance space science and technology

The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) was incorporated on March 12, 1969, in Washington, D.C. as a private, nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Institutional membership in the association currently stands at 113 universities. All member institutions have graduate programs in space sciences or technology. Besides the 98 member institutions in the United States, there are two member institutions in Canada, four in Europe, two in Israel, one in Australia and one in New Zealand, one in Hong Kong, two in Korea and two in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Swank</span> American astronomer

Jean Hebb Swank is an astrophysicist who is best known for her studies of black holes and neutron stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Ellen Max</span>

Claire Ellen Max is a Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and is affiliated with the Lick Observatory. She was the Director of the Center for Adaptive Optics at UCSC, 2007-2014. Max received the E.O. Lawrence Award in Physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg Urry</span> American astrophysicist

Claudia Megan Urry is an American astrophysicist, who has served as the President of the American Astronomical Society, as chair of the Department of Physics at Yale University, and as part of the Hubble Space Telescope faculty. She is currently the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University and Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Urry is notable not only for her contributions to astronomy and astrophysics, including work on black holes and multiwavelength surveys, but also for her work addressing sexism and sex equality in astronomy, science, and academia more generally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Dodson Prince</span> American astronomer

Helen Dodson Prince was an American astronomer who pioneered work in solar flares at the University of Michigan.

Kristen Sellgren is an American retired astronomer and Professor Emerita at the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Ohio State University. She won the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy in 1990. She is the founder of American Astronomical Society's Committee for Sexual-Orientation & Gender Minorities in Astronomy (SGMA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Murray-Clay</span>

Ruth Murray-Clay is a professor at the University of California Santa Cruz who studies the formation of planetary systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina Richey</span> American planetary scientist and astrophysicist

Christina "Chrissy" Richey is an American planetary scientist and astrophysicist working at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, California. Richey is a project staff scientist for the Europa Clipper mission and is a research technologist in the Astrophysics and Space Sciences Section. Prior to working at JPL, Richey worked as contractor for Arctic Slope Regional Corporation at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. They were a program officer in NASA's Planetary Science Division, the deputy program scientist for the OSIRIS-REx mission, and the deputy science advisor for research and analysis for the Science Mission Directorate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney C. Wolff</span> American astrophysicist

Sidney Carne Wolff is an American astrophysicist, researcher, public educator, and author. She is the first woman in the United States to head a major observatory, and she provided significant contributions to the construction of six telescopes. Wolff served as Director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). She is a member of the International Astronomical Union's Division G: Stars and Stellar Physics.

Anita L. Cochran is an American astronomer, planetary scientist, and senior research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also the assistant director for research support at the McDonald Observatory. She focuses on the study of primitive bodies in the solar system and the composition of comets.

Jennifer Hoffman is an American astrophysicist and associate professor at the University of Denver. She studies the circumstellar material around stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Tuttle</span> Assistant professor of astrophysics

Sarah Tuttle is an astrophysicist and assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Washington. Tuttle builds spectrographs to detect nearby galaxies, including work on VIRUS installed on McDonald Observatory's Hobby–Eberly Telescope to study dark energy, and FIREBall, the world's first fiber fed ultraviolet spectrograph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faith Vilas</span> American astronomer

Faith Vilas is an American planetary scientist and Director of the MMT Observatory in Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcia J. Rieke</span> American astronomer

Marcia Jean Rieke is an American astronomer. She is a Regents' Professor of Astronomy and associate department head at the University of Arizona. Rieke is the Principal Investigator on the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). She has also served as the deputy-Principal Investigator on the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and as the co-investigator for the multiband imaging photometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope, where she also acted as an outreach coordinator and a member of the Science Working Group. Rieke was also involved with several infrared ground-based observatories, including the MMT Observatory in Arizona. She was vice chair for Program Prioritization of the Astro2010 Decadal Survey Committee, "New Worlds, New Horizons". Marcia Rieke is considered by many to be one of the "founding mothers" of infrared astronomy, along with Judith Pipher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dara Norman</span> Astronomer

Dara J. Norman is an astronomer and the deputy director of the Community Science and Data Center at the National Science Foundation's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) in Tucson, Arizona. She is also the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Diversity Advocate at NOAO. Her research centers on the influence of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) on the evolution of galaxies. In 2020, she was inducted into the inaugural cohort of American Astronomical Society Fellows in recognition of her leadership and achievements.

References

  1. ↑ "Joan Schmelz | SOFIA Science Center". SOFIA. USRA. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  2. ↑ "Candidate Statement: Joan Schmelz | American Astronomical Society". AAS. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Solar physics: Dr. Schmelz". Solar physics director. University of Memphis. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "USRA's Joan Schmelz Elected Vice President at the American Astronomical Society". USRA. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Witze, Alexandra (2015). "365 days: Nature's 10". Nature. 528 (7583): 459–467. Bibcode:2015Natur.528..459.. doi: 10.1038/528459a . PMID   26701036. S2CID   4450003.
  6. ↑ Schmelz, Joan (1987). Investigations of extragalactic hydroxyl: a thesis in astronomy.
  7. ↑ "Joan Schmelz, Univ. of Memphis". Joan Schmelz. University of Memphis. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Richey, Christina (5 October 2015). "Woman Astronomer of the Month: Joan Schmelz". Blogger. Women in Astronomy Blog. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Arecibo contact information". Arecibo contact information. Arecibo Observatory. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Joan Schmelz". NSF.
  11. ↑ "CSWA Contact Information". CSWA AAS. American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  12. 1 2 3 Clery, Daniel (21 October 2015). "Q&A: Shining a light on sexual harassment in astronomy". Science. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "NCUWiP 2014 Speakers". NCUWiP 2014. Penn State. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  14. ↑ Schmelz, Joan (30 July 2013). "Unconscious Bias: A Legacy of Patriarchy". Women in Astronomy Blog. Blogger.
  15. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (14 October 2015). "Geoffrey Marcy to Resign From Berkeley Astronomy Department". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  16. ↑ Watson, Traci (13 October 2016). "Arecibo Observatory hit with discrimination lawsuit". Nature. 538 (7625): 297–298. Bibcode:2016Natur.538..297W. doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20778 . PMID   27762383. S2CID   264708522.
  17. ↑ "Former employees sue Arecibo Observatory for discrimination". Physics Today. 14 October 2016.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.