Chelen Johnson
The Luminosity, Accretion Disk, and Dust Team (LADDT) : combining UV, optical, and near infrared data for active galactic nuclei to look for a relation between the color of their accretion disks, the emission from their dust and their luminosity.
The time at Caltech was fantastic. I enjoyed working alongside my students in a way that felt very different from the typical classroom setting.
My life has changed in some way because of my participation in this program. My wife, my children, and my co-workers have all remarked at how I am different now. I don’t know whether it was the program, the people that I worked with, or some combination of the two, but whatever it was something about it changed me. I know that “life-changing experience” was not one of the outcomes that you hoped for when you planned the program, but it is what happened with me. Thank you very much for allowing me to participate— this has been one of the best years of my life.
The NITARP experience inspires students to participate in research and inspires teachers to find a place in their work (either in a club, the classroom, or new programs) for authentic research. For me, personally, this year of working along with students to learn about black holes has shaped my pedagogical view that real research should be the basis for all science courses.
