Chelen Johnson
This virtual team collects all independent research presented in 2014, and done by NITARP or Spitzer alumni with (or without) students outside of a formal NITARP team.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to participate in the NITARP program for the past year. I gained experience that I never thought I would be capable of, gained many new resources, and learned more that I ever expected. It has been a very unique and productive experience and I am proud of both the scientific research we accomplished and the educational aspects that were brought to our school systems.
The more I talked with astronomers and support staff at the different booths [at my first AAS], the more I began to realize that being a teacher, and an amateur astronomer, is really very different from being a professional astronomer.
Standing by the poster nearly all day, my three girls described our [research]. To say that I was proud would be a gross understatement.
