AAS - 2017

The Winter American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting is the largest meeting of professional astronomers in the world. NITARP educators attend an AAS first to meet their team, then they go home and work remotely for much of the year, and then attend an AAS to present their results. At any given AAS, then, we could have two NITARP classes attending - those finishing up, and those getting started. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The 2016 and 2017 NITARP teams attended the 2017 January AAS meeting in Dallas, TX. The 2016 class was presenting results and the 2017 class was starting up. We had many alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 50 people to the AAS and had a grand time. Please see the special article on NITARP at the AAS. All of the posters we presented are here:

2016 teams:
- Science Poster - Orr et al., "Finding High Quality Young Star Candidates in Ceph C Using X-ray, Optical, and IR Data"
- Education Poster - Orr et al., "STEM Education is Missing This ..."
- Science Poster - Kilts et al., "Searching for Short-Term Variable Active Galactic Nuclei: A Vital Step Towards Using AGN as Standard Candles"
- Education Poster - Kohrs et al., "NITARP: Changing Perceptions of Science Among Secondary Students and Teachers"
Returning Alumni teams:
- Education Poster - Bensel & Cool, "Are We Alone? GAVRT Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Project"
- Education Poster - Tran et al., "Analysis of Visual Double Stars"
- Science Poster - Johnson et al., "An Infrared Search for Young Stellar Objects in IC 1396"
- Science Poster - Wilson et al., "Searching for Infrared Excesses around White Dwarf Stars"
- Education Poster - Linder et al., "Confirming and Improving Ross Variable Star RV Del"
- Science Poster - Linder et al., "Rotational Study of Ambiguous Taxonomic Classified Asteroids"
NITARP Management:
- Evaluations And Impact (presented as education poster): Rebull et al., "The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP): Lessons Learned"

Quotes

I got to re-experience what it's like to be a student faced with a difficult challenge; the wondering whether or not to ask a question; the struggle to make sense of the work being done by others around me.. I think these experiences will make me a more empathetic and effective teacher.
[student:] I did not think I would impress anyone. I thought I would struggle through presentations and hopefully hold my own, but I never expected I would do any more than that. However, I ended up knowing the information better than I realized, and that really showed through when I presented. And people were impressed.
The scientific method cannot be narrowed down to 6 simple steps. The process is very much ingrained in trial and error and coming up with new solutions to problems.
I did not anticipate how friendly everyone was. I could go up to anybody, it seemed, and talk to them and they gave me their undivided attention.
Because NITARP turns teachers and students into colleagues at the same academic level, I got to experience what it’s like to be a student struggling with exciting new material. This has increased my functional empathy with students. Specifically, (1) I am more aware of assumptions I’m making about student prior knowledge; (2) I take more time with each step; (3) I get confirmation from more students before moving on.

AAS - 2017

Quotes

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