Chelen Johnson
This virtual team collects all independent research presented in 2010, and done by NITARP or Spitzer alumni with students outside of a formal NITARP team. Four different teams presented results in 2010!
This experience convinced me even further that I can push myself to learn even more each and every day. I started out feeling very overwhelmed and unprepared last year. I forced myself to work through my unease and wound up much more comfortable. I learned that astronomers are much more down-to-earth than I envisioned a lot of them to be and so many of them are very willing to go out of their way to explain things when we have questions.
I will definitely be using the skills and the knowledge that I acquired in the NITARP program in the future for my own and for my future students’ research.
[working at the same level as the students] changes how you approach teaching. Being surrounded by people, whether they're older or younger, who are asking these awesome questions, it’s liberating.
