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Summer Visit - 2023 - SCHARP

The summer visit to Caltech is 4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The SCHARP team came to visit in June 2023. The 5 core team educators attended, plus 10 students.

Quotes

  • The least surprising thing [I learned] was the dedication and brilliance of those involved in astronomy research. I realize what a special group of people they really are to understand and persevere with their work.
  • [student:] The most surprising thing that I learned was how much more there is to astronomy than meets the eye. You are not just looking at stars through a telescope. You are graphing data, and doing math to better understand what you are looking at.
  • [student:] The NITARP experience has certainly influenced my thoughts on college. Even though I am not considering majoring in astronomy-related fields, I think the research experience has ignited my passion for further participating in research in college or my future career.
  • I have an even greater appreciation of astronomy and astronomers because of this experience. To be able to make inferences and calculations from things basically intangible and find the possibilities in this research is really “out of this world”!
  • [student:] In other academically-based programs I've participated in in the past, I have found my interest in the subject decrease as I devote more time to it. However, with NITARP, I find myself fascinated by what we do no matter how much I have already done it. Learning the new content doesn't feel like a drag; it feels deeply rewarding. I want to carry this with me as I pursue studies in the earth and planetary sciences, hopefully researching something in that field.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2023 - SCHARP