Colorado University of Boulder Professor Wins NASA Award

(TNS) — University of Colorado Boulder Associate Professor Stefanie K. Johnson was recognized by NASA for her work to reduce gender bias in the Hubble Space Telescope program.

The 2020 Agency Honors Group Achievement Award recognizes Johnson's "outstanding effort in strengthening the review of the Hubble Space Telescope observing proposals, sparking a revolution in the evaluation of proposals in space science," according to a University of Colorado Boulder news release.

Johnson's research looked at applications for access to the Hubble Space Telescope and found that women lead scientists were awarded access to the telescope at a lower rate than men. Johnson co-authored the study with Jessica Kirk of the University of Memphis.

The study also found that when proposals were made anonymously, the gender bias disappeared. Specifically, male reviewers rated proposals by women significantly worse than those by men, but that difference disappeared when the proposals were made anonymous.

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