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AAS - 2019

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 2018 and 2019 NITARP teams attended the 2019 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2018 class was presenting results and the 2019 class was starting up. We had 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:

2018 Teams:

NITARP Management:

Returning Alumni Teams:

 

Quotes

  • Teachers will be better at providing students with authentic learning experiences if they are provided with them as well. Teachers love to learn, and inspiration from programs like NITARP can only add to their ability to inspire their students.
  • It’s really something to get to sit there and hear scientists announce brand new discoveries, especially when they were announcing new exoplanets that had been found. The main thing that surprised me was just how vast the field of astronomy is, and that not everyone is an expert in everything. It made me feel a lot better about all the things I didn’t know. I was constantly writing down things to look up later, especially the meaning of various acronyms.
  • I knew that, like any scientists or teachers, astronomers LOVE their profession. I have no idea why but I never thought there would be so many astronomers. A lot of people love astronomy and they do not resemble each other. I was presently surprised by the diversity in every aspect.
  • I was very excited to learn what research we will be doing. All of the information about the program itself and what is expected of us was very good on Sunday. I do not think the reality of the experience has really hit me yet but I’m sure it will over the next several months. It just seems unreal that we will be using data from the Kepler and Spitzer telescopes and possibly Chandra as well to look into an area of star formation and try to discover new young stars! Truly amazing to be a part of this!
  • The NITARP experience is one that has had a profound effect on me—it has changed the way I look at science, at teaching, and at a lot of other things connected to my job. I really cannot imagine not doing things like this in the future—it has changed my life in a lot of positive ways.

Related Teams

AAS - 2019