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AAS - 2022

The Winter American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting is usually 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 2020/21 and 2022 NITARP teams had planned to attend the 2022 January AAS meeting in Salt Lake City, UT. However, the meeting was entirely cancelled due to COVID. We still have this special article about the NITARP teams finishing and starting up. All of the posters from the 2020/21 teams we presented are here. Most of the 2020/21 teams came instead to the June 2022 AAS meeting in Pasadena, CA instead. Those posters were iPosters, so the PDF versions that are here are still the versions from Jan 2022, but the numbers are from June 2022.

The 2022 class got started on Jan 9, just before when the winter AAS would have been held. There are two teams in 2022.

Quotes

  • [student:] I have always wanted to be an engineer, and although NITARP hasn’t changed that ultimate goal, it has given me an extreme passion for research. Now, I want to get involved with undergraduate research as soon as possible in college, and without NITARP, I don’t think that interest would have emerged.
  • [student:] NITARP helped show me the excitement of the true scientific research process.
  • This is the only experience I've seen in physical science where you are as much a scientist as anyone else. Often it feels the teachers are just spectators.
  • Confusion is the normal, and much appreciated, state during a NITARP experience. But it is that healthy, wonderful form of confusion that is triggering curiosity and engagement. The experience of the professional astronomers with individuals of our limited background knowledge and skills allowed them to constantly adjust the pacing and content of the experience to keep us on the edge of comfort/confusion. This is the sweet spot for cognitive challenge and growth, so it was a true pleasure to experience it in the NITARP setting with such fidelity and control over such a long period of time. The NITARP experience is masterful at supporting our development as amateur astronomers and professional educators. I loved every minute of it… even the, “wait a minute… what? No seriously… ??????” moments. Keep doing exactly this… let us flounder to the point of ALMOST tearful frustration… and then swoop in to pull us back just inside the edge of our comfort zones… it is awesome to experience.
  • NITARP is the shining example of science outreach to public education, and should be a model for similar federal entities, such as CDC, DOE and even the NEA. Any entity currently providing grants could make their impact more palpable by sharing their work and culture directly with high school teachers and students as NITARP does. A program like NITARP turns teachers into adult representatives of the discipline at its heart; a program like NITARP makes every day in the classroom a Career Day.

Related Teams

AAS - 2022