AAS Newsletter September/October 2011, Issue 160 - Published for the Members of the American Astronomical Society Table of Contents 2 President's Column 11 Building a Bridge to PhD Programs 4 From the Executive Office for Minority STEM students 13 CSWA Tenured Faculty Statistics 5 Astronomy Goes Deep in the Heart 18 Agency News of Texas 6 25 Things About... 20 Kepler Releases New Data to Public Archive 8 Journals Update 10 Pre-Major in Astronomy Program Back Page Washington News A A S American Astronomical Society AAS Officers President's Column Debra M. Elmegreen, President David J. Helfand, President-Elect Debra Meloy Elmegreen,
[email protected] Lee Anne Willson, Vice-President Nicholas B. Suntzeff, Vice-President Edward B. Churchwell, Vice-President Hervey (Peter) Stockman, Treasurer G. Fritz Benedict, Secretary Richard F. Green, Publications Board Chair As a new academic year looms, my Timothy F. Slater, Education Officer thoughts turn to the mentoring Councilors and training we provide our young Bruce Balick astronomers, as well as efforts to improve Richard G. French Eileen D. Friel the percentages of underrepresented Edward F. Guinan minorities. The Astro2010 New Worlds, Patricia Knezek James D. Lowenthal New Horizons (NWNH) decadal report, Robert Mathieu now a year since its release, makes Angela Speck Jennifer Wiseman several observations and suggestions in chapter four regarding these issues, but Executive Office Staff falls short of formal recommendations Kevin B. Marvel, Executive Officer Tracy Beale, Membership Services because so many of them depend Administrator on departments (rather than the Chris Biemesderfer, Director of Publishing Laronda Richardson, Meetings & Exhibits government or funding agencies) taking Coordinator action.