Chelen Johnson
This virtual team collects all independent research presented in 2008, and done by Spitzer alumni with students outside of a formal Spitzer team. Mr. Spuck's students worked on classifying galaxies in the Spitzer observations of the Taurus Molecular Cloud.
[At my first AAS,] I felt like I got to meet a lot of people and learn some cool things, and think about how to best educate people. It feels like a lot of people with a common goal, very connected and leaving was kind of sad, like separation. Other than my group, I did not run into another NITARP teacher after Sunday; I don't think I realized how big this conference was.
Real astronomy involves working as a team to find an answer. The NITARP program provides a unique, real-life experience in real astronomy to the teachers and students involved.
I have been in education for 4 decades and this one program has given me more confidence in teaching space science than any college training I ever did.
