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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

  • I was intimidated at the start of this project because I felt like many of the people on my team and people that I saw present at the AAS last year knew more than me. But, after the whole experience is now completed, I have learned that the area of astronomy is so vast that no one is an expert on everything. I learned to appreciate the skills/knowledge that I brought to the team as well as everything that I learned from my teammates.
  • [The] intrinsic motivation that comes about when a student learns that struggling with a problem yields a result (btw, the NITARP idea that research sometimes leads nowhere (forgive the oversimplification) is an important lesson, but at the same time, students ARE successful with every step of the process. [...] how much of the Algebra 2 curriculum is embedded in astronomy, and how abstractly weird ideas like logs fall out as the most natural way to talk about things. [...] NITARP exposes kids to the reality of STEM employment… things like the normalcy of your families, the kinds of things STEM can do in a professional setting. Few kids have real world scientists as role models and hence have no basis for visualizing a future as a scientist. NITARP kids do.
  • You cannot learn the process of science research passively. Being immersed into your own astronomical research with the NITARP program is the only way to learn how real scientific research is done.
  • 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.
  • This experience has increased my self-efficacy. I know now that I can do it. I know that sounds funny but I have a renewed sense of ability and drive. I think I had lulled myself into “good enough” and this experience has shown me what is possible.

Related Teams

AAS - 2020