  Many astronomers now participate in large international collaborations, and
it is important to examine whether these structures foster a scientific climate
that is inclusive and diverse. The Committee on the Participation of Women in
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (CPWS) was formed to evaluate the demographics and
gender climate within SDSS-IV, one of the largest and most geographically
distributed astronomical collaborations. In April 2014, the CPWS administered a
demographic survey to establish a baseline for the incipient SDSS-IV. We
received responses from 250 participants (46% of the active membership). Half
of the survey respondents were located in the US or Canada and 30% were based
in Europe. Eleven percent of survey respondents considered themselves to be an
ethnic minority at their current institution. Twenty-five percent of the
SDSS-IV collaboration members are women, a fraction that is consistent with the
US astronomical community, but substantially higher than the fraction of women
in the IAU (16%). Approximately equal fractions of men and women report holding
positions of leadership. When binned by academic age and career level, men and
women also assume leadership roles at approximately equal rates, in a way that
increases steadily for both genders with increasing seniority. In this sense,
SDSS-IV has been successful in recruiting leaders that are representative of
the collaboration. Yet, more progress needs to be made towards achieving gender
balance and increasing diversity in the field of astronomy, and there is still
room for improvement in the membership and leadership of SDSS-IV. For example,
at the highest level of SDSS-IV leadership, women disproportionately assume
roles related to education and public outreach. The CPWS plans to use these
initial data to establish a baseline for tracking demographics over time as we
work to assess and improve the climate of SDSS-IV.
