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AAS - 2011

The Winter American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting is the largest meeting of professional astronomers in the world. NITARP educators attend an AAS first to meet their team, then they go home and work remotely for much of the year, and then attend an AAS to present their results.  At any given AAS, then, we could have two NITARP classes attending - those finishing up, and those getting started. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The 2010 and 2011 NITARP teams attended the 2011 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2010 class was presenting results and the 2011 class was starting up. Special feature article on AAS attendees!  There were nearly 60 NITARP-affiliated folks, about 2% of the attendees at the AAS meeting!! We presented 9 posters. Also see Luisa's blog entry about this.

 

Quotes

  • [My students] were amazed to hear other scientists say "Well, I understood half of that talk," and they repeatedly heard astronomers make jokes about research itself - the not knowing, the knowing and then getting proven wrong, etc. The experience made a huge impression on them and that was food for my soul.
  • It was wonderful to see the students from last year presenting their posters and talking with astronomers and teachers from all over the world.
  • There was purpose to my wandering [this year]. Last year was logistically and culturally educational, this year was truly informative. I felt much less out of place.
  • EVERYTHING had a different flavor this year. [...] I experienced everything through the lens of the research project of the past year. The entire experience was in context. [...] When I look at how the intellectual process changed over the last year I imagine it going from a diffuse look at research and the entire conference experience to the extreme focus on our own project during the year and finally reaching outward again in Seattle to incorporate new information and understandings. Returning to AAS made the experience complete.
  • The most interesting thing I noticed this year was that I spent much more time seeking out, listening to and talking about science than I did about education itself. There was plenty of overlap but I felt more confident asking questions and I had a much better idea of the questions I wanted to explore.

Related Teams

AAS - 2011