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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

  • 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.
  • [student:] Initially, I wanted to pursue a career in either music education or performance as a part of the more classical community of music. The AAS conference changed that. I have never before in my life seen a more collaborative group than the AAS. The support I had while presenting my poster was unreal. This made me reflect on my pursuits in music. That community could not be any more critical or degrading than it already is. I want music in my life, but I never want to be a part of that community. This experience set me on a path, one that might one day lead me to the forefront of human knowledge hopefully for me to help push that boundary.
  • [NITARP] has changed how I teach in that I am now utilizing online databases with my research students for those who are looking for astronomy projects to work on. I also require my research students to produce posters of their work and to use those posters for presentations at the regional science fair and when they give presentations at the local science center. My astronomy students also now use online materials for some of their lab assignments as well.
  • Watching the kids from different schools interact was one of my favorite parts of this experience that I completely didn’t anticipate. The kids came from totally different worlds and they had a commonality (loving astronomy/ research, and being nerds) but otherwise their lives weren’t necessarily similar. This is a huge benefit of the NITARP program, and although not a stated program goal, I believe it has tremendous value.
  • There is no limit to what teachers and students participating in NITARP can do! With the expertise of scientists, mentoring teachers, and the enthusiasm of students and teachers working as a team, NITARP provides an experience like no other program out there. The long-lasting impact goes far beyond the year long experience to increase quality and quantity of space related programs in the classroom and community.

Related Teams

AAS - 2019