Chelen Johnson
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."
The most interesting thing [during this whole NITARP experience] I did was work with catalogs I had not seen before and those I had that I had not a clue what to do with all that data. I now have a much clearer picture and my understanding has grown beyond what I think I could have ever done before.
My general impression is how big and varied the whole conference was. I knew the number coming in—but sometimes our imagination fails us. To see all the posters, papers, booths, and talks was truly astonishing.