Chelen Johnson
IC417 : using WISE, 2MASS, Spitzer/Warm IRAC, UKIDSS, IPHAS, and literature optical data to look for young stars in the IC417 region.
[The most interesting thing during the summer trip was] the change in the students and their growth in confidence. The a-ha moments when the big picture came into focus for them. The tour of
JPL was fantastic, too.
There was purpose to my wandering. [..]Last year [the AAS] was logistically and culturally educational, this year was truly informative. I felt much less out of place.
I’ve always thought that probably most astronomers were just normal people who had a passion for astronomy, and my experience confirmed that. I felt like many of the astronomers I talked to were able to have normal conversations as well as “wow” me with lots of data and analysis.
