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.
The networking is amazing. I could call up another NITARP teacher at the drop of my hat and just have a conversation. It’s awesome—the network you build with people who are just as curious and fired up as you are.
It was very special to be in the room when the announcement of planet Kepler 10b (an estimated 1.4 X the size of the Earth) was discovered. I turned to my student Inga and asked, "How does it feel to be one of the first people on planet Earth to know about this discovery?" She replied, "I never thought of it like that ... it's pretty cool."
After this experience, I’m more aware that beyond just teaching my students good science, my focus should be to prepare them for a career in science.
