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AAS - 2020

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 2019 and 2020 NITARP teams attended the 2020 January AAS meeting in Honolulu, HI. The 2019 class was presenting results and the 2020 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:

2019 Teams:

NITARP Management:

Returning Alumni Teams:

Quotes

  • [student: Now,] I feel inspired to work harder and to push myself farther not only in school but throughout my career as well. I also learned that there are many similarities between astronomy and electrical technology. Understanding the data transferred into applications I am learning in the electrical field. Interesting! The sky is no longer the limit.
  • [student:] I think that NITARP showed me that working with others is better than working alone, so I’ll think I’ll try my best to work with other others for my assignments. I say this because I usually try to work alone, but I learned so much from my NITARP team members this experience, and so maybe I’ll learn something from someone else at school.
  • I also thought the science was extremely cut-throat and reclusive, when the exact opposite is true. People have to work together to accomplish large tasks, share new findings, and support future research. I was amazed at the diversity of personnel [...] and comradery in the field.
  • As an educator, at times it can feel like you are isolated or on your own. I knew that NITARP is a team but for once I felt like I was part of something bigger than just me. I know now the true meaning of teamwork especially as it relates to science research. I am very proud to be considered a part of [our] team. I knew that there would be teamwork but I did not anticipate how cohesively we would come together. This was truly a very rewarding experience.
  • I feel very privileged to have been a part of the NITARP experience as well as other opportunities I have had with NASA in education. This is one of the many benefits to the education field, the chance to work with professionals in other fields so that we can bring knowledge and experiences gained into our classrooms for students to see.

Related Teams

AAS - 2020