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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

  • Qualities that are important to be an astronomer are perseverance and a willingness to learn from mistakes. Astronomers also have to be effective communicators in order to discuss their findings.
  • [student:] I was most surprised by how quickly much of the data we were given was processed in such a short amount of time, even when doing work "by hand." The SEDs, for instance, were expected to take a long time to complete, but even when doing them in Excel, my team was able to complete them very quickly.
  • [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.
  • "Real astronomy" is using real data to analyze and make conclusions. Research is an iterative process in the sense that we get some answers that generate more questions. And we did that!
  • This experience made me think about the massive amount of astronomical data generated and archived. There must be all kinds of new discoveries waiting to be found in those data!

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2023 - SCHARP