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Summer Visit - 2013 - C-CWEL

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 "C-CWEL" team came to visit in August 2013. The core team educators attended, plus 11 students.

Quotes

  • [student:] I was surprised that there were no clean, concrete answers. A lot of the time we had to look at information and make decisions and assumptions based on the data and our previous knowledge. No one was going to tell us that a star we were looking at was definitely a YSO. Science in the real world is more subjective and that is a lot different from how we learn in a school science lab. Things are messy and unclear because we're still trying to figure things out. There are anomalies that we can't explain yet, but that's why we keep researching, examining, and inquiring.
  • [student:] A lot of data analysis was something I expected coming into this trip. However, I don’t believe I expected so much of the data to be so quantitative. This stems from my preconceived notions of astronomy having more to do with the real time viewing of the sky. The other thing I don’t think I expected was using a tool so common as excel to process “real” data. This is because it is so commonplace. It is interesting to see a tool you have been familiar with from a young age used at such a high level, doing things with you didn’t know it was capable of.
  • [student:] We used excel more, and for more, than I thought.
  • [student:] I was surprised by the wonderful people on the team who had flown in from different places around the country. I did not anticipate being part of such a large group but it as a pleasant surprise.
  • [student:] I feel like I knew very little about what astronomers do on a day-to-day basis beforehand. Being able to see just a little of what [our mentor] does and is able to do was inspiring. [..] her passion made me want to be a part of what she was doing. After this experience, my interest in astronomy has become more serious.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2013 - C-CWEL