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- [Prof. Erika Hamden] All right.

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Thank you for inviting me.

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I'm really,

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happy to talk about this,

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and the work that we're still
doing to try and just improve

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the numbers and diversity of people

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who are PIing space missions.

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So, you can go to the next slide, please.

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So, part of the motivation
for the workshop

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and some of the other work
that we've been doing is,

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just the lack of diversity

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and who PIs astrophysics
proposals Ex/MO missions

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in particular.

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So, these plots are from
a white paper from 2019,

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written by Joan Centrella, that
went back through the last,

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at the time 10 years of,

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Explorer proposals to
look at the demographics,

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and this is just a study
of male versus female PI,

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that didn't include anything about race,

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which is the difference, also
bad access of diversity for,

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through PI missions.

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And as you can see, the
numbers are not great

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for male versus female PIs,
but it's also not great in,

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women in science roles.

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So, the two plots on the
left side are showing

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the number of women in science roles

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versus the total size of
the science team, and then,

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the number of proposals
that have different numbers

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of women in science roles.

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So, there were about 100 proposals put in

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and the time period that was
studied and out of those 100,

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a full 18 had no women in science roles

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and only a handful had,

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actually more than, you know, 30%.

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Next slide please.

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And this is

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a problem,

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because

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when you PIed in missions

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or if you're a science
team that sets up your,

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if you're on the science team
you can learn how to do it

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and then PI your own mission,

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but this is actually a
really complicated problem

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because there's a lot of
stakeholders who make choices

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about what missions and
PIs they wanna support.

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NASA Headquarters has some influence

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in setting the priorities,

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but actually there's a very
long chain of decisions

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that get made by other
groups by NASA Centers,

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by industry partners, by universities,

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about who they're gonna support.

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But one thing that can be
fixed relatively easily

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is the asymmetry of information.

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If you've already put any
proposals, you know how to do it,

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if you haven't, it's really
hard to break into it.

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Things like, when should
you start building a team,

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when should you start contacting people

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and how do you do it,

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how do you talk about a science case

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which is necessarily still evolving

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as you're working on the mission,

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and how do you learn how to like

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be comfortable with uncertainty.

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If you've been through the process,

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all of these things are much, much easier.

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Next slide please.

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So, one of the ways to preface
asymmetry of information,

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originally, I thought about
writing a paper to do this,

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and then,

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working with a couple of
people in Thomas' office,

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with Dr. Michael New and Ellen Gertsen,

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we came up with the idea for a workshop.

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The Heising-Simons
Foundation contributed a 100K

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and NASA contributed another about 30K.

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We hired a STEM-Equity consultant

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to work on the application,
the rubric and the agenda.

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And we thought the
application was necessary

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because since we wanted
this to be workshop,

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we wanted to be very interactive,

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we needed to limit the number
of people who could attend,

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but we also wanted to make sure

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that every person who wanted
to attend and was accepted,

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we would pay for them.

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So, the funding for attendees

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was a really important
part of the workshop.

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Next slide please.

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So, the application
consisted of five questions

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that were focused on science,

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we wanted everyone to have a
science idea, on leadership,

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teams, decision making and
then diversity, equity,

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inclusion and accessibility work.

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And those applications
were submitted to NSPIRES

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as an NOI.

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We had about 200 applicants,
130 of which were compliant,

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answering all the questions
and out of those 130,

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we selected 40 people and we
paid for all of their flights,

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accommodation, meals, transportation.

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Next slide please.

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And the workshop itself was
over two and a half days

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in November, 2019.

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We actually had 39 people attend,

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two thirds of which were women.

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We did not select per women,

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we just used a very
carefully designed rubric

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to go along with the questions,

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and that was the result that we got.

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We had 50% who were
from Planetary Science,

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25% were from astrophysics

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and the remainder were
Helio and Earth Science.

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And those were,

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I think, mostly a function
of how well we advertised it.

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We were operating on kind
of a compressed timeline,

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and Michael New, the Planetary Scientist,

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and has a lot of contacts
in the Planetary Science

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and I'm an astrophysicist.

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So, we were able to more effectively,

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advertise to those groups.

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We had about 25 people who came
as mentors for the attendees

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or they were speakers at panels

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or they were industry partners.

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And then we created an
agenda and a workbook,

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a workbook that we printed
and handed out to everybody,

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and actually both of those
things are now on a website

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that's being hosted by NASA's SMD,

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which hopefully we'll send
out an email about that

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on Monday,

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but that was one of the objectives,

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is to try and spread this more broadly

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than just the people who
attended the workshop.

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But we tried to make the workshop

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as interactive as possible,

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we had a speed networking session,

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which was cited as the most useful.

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We've also had shorter
sessions at the AGU and the AAS

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this past winter and we're planning to do

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either half day or full day
workshops at the next meeting

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that they do happen.

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Next slide please.

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And this is just an
overview of the agenda.

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I'm not gonna go through this
in too much detail, but when,

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if you look up the website,

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you'll be able to actually
see the agenda in full detail.

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So, we covered things like
creating a science case,

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what is a Science Traceability Matrix,

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what are requirements, what's the process.

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Really information to get people knowing

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what their next steps are gonna be

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if they wanna actually
do a mission like this.

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Next slide please.

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So, the key takeaways.

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So, we had a report
written by Nicole Salazar,

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actually it looks like
some of it got cut off,

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but she drafted this
really comprehensive report

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about the experiences of the people

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that came to the workshop and
how we can make it better,

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and what they liked and
what they didn't like.

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And generally, the people who
attended really enjoyed it,

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93% of them said it was
a good use of their time,

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86% felt comfortable, welcome,
heard, valued and respected.

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And the most important takeaway to me

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is actually on the next slide.

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Which is that we pull
people before and after

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about if they knew what the
next steps they wanted to take

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to build their mission more.

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And pre-workshop,

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only 13% of people felt that
they knew what they wanted,

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what the next step was.

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And post-workshop,

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93% of people felt like they
knew what the next step was.

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So, I'm really happy about this.

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Next slide please.

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And then we asked some
other questions about

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if people felt comfortable
developing their science case,

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developing a science
objective, developing a pitch,

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building a mission team,
identifying mission requirements,

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developing verification tests,

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obtaining institutional support
or developing a timeline.

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In all of these metrics,

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people felt more comfortable
doing it after the workshop.

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Two varying degrees.

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Next slide please.

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but I think the impact
on this is still TBD.

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A few people who attended the workshop

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have actually put in proposals,

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there was one AS3, the astrophysics,

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SmallSat investigation
proposal that was submitted,

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and a few other people are moving forward

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with their proposal ideas.

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But I think this is a longterm problem

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and as I said at the beginning, you know,

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there's a lot of different
places where things fail,

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and so, this is just to try

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and get people going on the path,

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but there's still a lot of
other pitfalls in the way.

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I'm trying to expand this a little bit

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to make it more applicable
to a lot of people.

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So, the website with conference materials

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we've finished that,

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but it hasn't been widely advertised yet.

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Originally I wanted to write a paper

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and I still kind of feel like during that,

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that still remains to be written.

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This also was a highly
idiosyncratic workshop

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that was based mostly
on my own experiences,

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writing an Astrophysics SMEX proposal.

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And so, this concept of
like a PI launch pattern,

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teaching people how to be PI
has to be expanded in scope

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to make it more applicable
to people's experiences

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and also generalized to not
just like UV Astrophysics

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or astrophysics, but to a lot of things.

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And I think in making those changes,

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it's important to distinguish between

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what NASA Headquarters has control over

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and also what decisions NASA
Centers or industry partners

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or other stakeholders are
making earlier in the process.

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Next slide please.

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So, we were originally
planning for a 2020 workshop,

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which was actually suppose
to happen in early August

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and we had dates picked
out and everything,

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and then, at the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor

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and that hasn't fallen
through because of COVID-19.

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So, we actually have funding

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from a Heising-Simons
Foundation for another one,

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and we're kind of gonna
do the same type of thing

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with three days instead of two
and a half, 40 participants,

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we're gonna try and give more time

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for people to submit their applications

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and make the application
a little bit shorter,

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that was something that people
found a little bit onerous.

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And we have to spend more
time on the applicant pool

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and increasing the diversity
of people that apply,

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especially smaller universities

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that aren't like the usual
suspects in PI and things,

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and then also,
underrepresented minorities,

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which we did not have
great statistics on that.

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Next slide please.

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So, something that I've
been thinking about

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for future launchpads is like actually,

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having an inclusion experts
come in and do some studies

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across SMD to provide real
suggestions for improvement.

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Making the launchpad a
more formalized thing

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rather than just relying on a few people,

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putting it together every
year creating an SOC.

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Maybe some kind of incubator,

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the JPL Planetary Science Summer School

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is a very interesting model for this

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where there's multiple weeks
where they have webinars

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and then the in-person workshop

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is actually a culmination of that time.

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And then including all materials online

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for people who aren't able to attend

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or who applied and weren't accepted.

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Next slide please.

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So, this is actually what the
website looks like right now.

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The links should be sent out via NSPIRE

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sometime in the next week,

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with everything happening in the world,

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it's all going a little slower.

259
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But we have a description
of the launchpad itself,

260
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information about the
agenda, some resources

261
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and then all of the sessions
which we filmed and recorded

262
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with closed captioning

263
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and then also have the PDFs
for all the presentations.

264
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So, this will hopefully
be a helpful resource.

265
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This is really just the beginning

266
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of what I think should
be a larger project.

267
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Next slide please.

268
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And then also,

269
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just cause I would be
remiss not to mention this,

270
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but there are a couple
of coming opportunities.

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Frequently people start out
in small missions as the PI

272
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and then they eventually graduate
to larger scale missions,

273
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Explorers or bigger,
that's not always true.

274
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In fact, there are no
rules about anything.

275
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So, you should do whatever you want.

276
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But there are these different
cost categories of SmallSat,

277
00:11:16,070 --> 00:11:18,370
especially that are becoming
a lot more prominent.

278
00:11:18,370 --> 00:11:21,360
So, there's a PIONEERS
call, which is a SmallSat,

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with less than a cost of 20
million that's due in the fall

280
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and this is expected to be an annual call.

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There's the Mission
Opportunities, SmallSat,

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which is less than 40 million,

283
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that comes along with the Explorer AO's.

284
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And then after actually,

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the really great tool
for PI and small things,

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that's annual, an annual solicitation,

287
00:11:39,815 --> 00:11:43,380
and they've sort of added
in a very small, small tasks

288
00:11:43,380 --> 00:11:46,050
with a total cost of less than 5 million.

289
00:11:46,050 --> 00:11:48,319
But there's also rockets and balloons,

290
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which provide a really good
training ground for new PIs.

291
00:11:53,060 --> 00:11:56,108
The APRA program has its own
issues about PI diversity,

292
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but that's definitely something

293
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which has a much lower barrier to entry.

294
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And then this has happened two
times not on an annual basis,

295
00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:08,960
but the AS3 call is for
SmallSat Concept study.

296
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So, you don't need to have

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a fully fledged mission
developed, you can just focus on,

298
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what you would like to do.

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And so, that one is also
kind of an even lower barrier

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00:12:19,340 --> 00:12:20,173
to entry.

301
00:12:20,173 --> 00:12:22,040
The most recent solicitation
was in December of last year

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00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,170
and the announcement happened
I think, a month ago,

303
00:12:24,170 --> 00:12:26,020
but there's been two of them

304
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and it's likely to be a
recurring thing as well.

305
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Next slide please.

306
00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:32,900
I think that might be at the end.

307
00:12:32,900 --> 00:12:35,970
So, in general, my advise
if you wanna be a PI

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is you should decide what
your science question is,

309
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that's really the fundamental thing.

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Start building a team,

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00:12:40,970 --> 00:12:43,300
ask everyone that you can
think of for guidance,

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most of the people who have been PIs

313
00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:46,830
are willing to like wanna be helpful,

314
00:12:46,830 --> 00:12:48,900
that people just don't know to ask them.

315
00:12:48,900 --> 00:12:52,050
You should call, email,
random people for advice,

316
00:12:52,050 --> 00:12:52,883
talk to people.

317
00:12:52,883 --> 00:12:55,330
I have a great story about
how on my SMEX proposal,

318
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I worked with Ball Aerospace

319
00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,520
and I just like showed up
at the Ball Aerospace table

320
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at the AGU meeting,

321
00:13:00,830 --> 00:13:03,100
and it was actually like a
career recruitment table,

322
00:13:03,100 --> 00:13:04,210
and I was like, "I don't
wanna talk to you guys,

323
00:13:04,210 --> 00:13:05,990
I wanna talk to someone else
but I don't know who that is."

324
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And then we figured it out.

325
00:13:07,260 --> 00:13:10,570
So, the most important step
actually is number five,

326
00:13:10,570 --> 00:13:11,650
don't give up.

327
00:13:11,650 --> 00:13:13,500
If you think you have an interesting idea,

328
00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:15,240
talk to people about it
and start developing it.

329
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:16,730
And,

330
00:13:16,730 --> 00:13:18,337
yeah, there are people out
here who wanna help you,

331
00:13:18,337 --> 00:13:19,740
you just have to connect with them.

332
00:13:19,740 --> 00:13:20,573
And I think,

333
00:13:20,573 --> 00:13:23,240
I don't think I have an
example that we could see.

334
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,303
Yeah, I'm happy to answer any questions

335
00:13:25,303 --> 00:13:27,663
and thank you for having me.

336
00:13:29,024 --> 00:13:29,857
- [Female Voice] Great.

337
00:13:29,857 --> 00:13:31,302
Thank you so much Erika.

338
00:13:31,302 --> 00:13:32,135
(clears throat)

339
00:13:32,135 --> 00:13:33,740
So, let's see.

340
00:13:33,740 --> 00:13:35,067
I have a question.

341
00:13:35,067 --> 00:13:36,770
Do you currently have plans

342
00:13:36,770 --> 00:13:38,770
or I guess perhaps this is
a suggestion if you don't,

343
00:13:38,770 --> 00:13:39,900
(laughs)

344
00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:42,470
to submit a planetary decadal white paper

345
00:13:42,470 --> 00:13:46,650
on essentially a debrief of the launchpad

346
00:13:46,650 --> 00:13:50,563
and just, you know, recommendations
for diversity of PIs?

347
00:13:51,420 --> 00:13:53,533
- [Prof. Erika Hamden] I do
not but that's a good idea.

348
00:13:54,780 --> 00:13:57,990
So, Planetary Sciences has
less of a terrible track record

349
00:13:57,990 --> 00:13:58,823
than astrophysics.

350
00:13:58,823 --> 00:13:59,656
(laughs)

351
00:13:59,656 --> 00:14:01,437
- [Female Voice] That's a
fairly low bar let's be clear.

352
00:14:01,437 --> 00:14:02,408
- [Prof. Erika Hamden] Yeah.

353
00:14:02,408 --> 00:14:03,360
(laughs)

354
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,087
but I do think that the...

355
00:14:06,087 --> 00:14:08,080
Yeah, I think that
actually is a great idea.

356
00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:08,913
So, thanks.

357
00:14:08,913 --> 00:14:10,050
Whoever wrote that suggestion, thank you.

358
00:14:10,050 --> 00:14:10,913
- [Female Voice] It was me.

359
00:14:10,913 --> 00:14:11,910
(laughs)

360
00:14:11,910 --> 00:14:12,743
You're welcome.

361
00:14:12,743 --> 00:14:13,576
(laughs)

362
00:14:13,576 --> 00:14:14,409
Yeah.

363
00:14:14,409 --> 00:14:16,810
And just as a primer, during
the open session tomorrow,

364
00:14:16,810 --> 00:14:18,370
that's one of our topics, in fact.

365
00:14:18,370 --> 00:14:20,570
So, we can, you know, for
those who are not as primed

366
00:14:20,570 --> 00:14:23,220
as to what the planetary decadal
of white paper submission

367
00:14:23,220 --> 00:14:25,170
looks like, we can talk about it there.