Chelen Johnson
The goal of SHIPs (Searching Herschel Images for Protostars) is to find and identify stars in the earliest phases of formation in NGC 281, a.k.a. "the pac-man nebula". These stars will help us understand the history of the star formation process in that region.
Watching the students present the research we had been working on the last year was absolutely the best part of the experience for me. They made me so proud
Since I teach students how to do research, it would be cool if I was doing research too and show them that I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm doing the same type of stuff that they are doing in research class. I wanted NITARP to help make me a better teacher in research and a better teacher in astronomy.
I think that my NITARP experience is one of the best things that I have ever done in my life, both as an educator and as an individual. I have found that I really like doing research and plan to continue that in the future both with my students and as an individual.
