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Summer Visit - 2013 - CM4Sy

The summer visit to Caltech is 3-4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The CM4Sy team came to visit in July 2013. The core team educators attended, plus 11 students.

Quotes

  • [student:] I have found that astronomy is much more than peering through telescopes. Astronomers analyze data collected from various instruments and observatories to either prove a theory or to make new ways to explain the universe.
  • [student:] you never really hear about everything involved in being an astronomer and I feel like after being here for a week I have a better understanding of the subject astronomy in general and careers in it as well.
  • I was surprised at how open the analysis was. I expect to be told what to find, however, we didn't know what we were going to find. I found that very cool.
  • [student:] There was much more work with numerical data than I had thought there was in scientific research. The use of computers was expected although the use of Excel was a surprise.
  • [Before this,] I had two visions of astronomy: telescopes and massive equations/data tables. This trip really emphasized that its not just telescopes and equations, but tangible data and analytical skills. It was really rewarding for my high school students and I to analyze this real data. It was also very interesting to learn that the data is public and anyone can use the data to learn science.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2013 - CM4Sy