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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

  • Before this conference, I hardly thought about the different methods people with physical impairments would have to use to learn [astronomy].[...] The main message I took away from the poster was that science is for literally anyone who is curious and willing to learn, no matter what the current circumstances are.
  • Attending the AAS in Seattle with my students was an incredible experience. I got a chance to step back and see [them] interact confidently with their peers, other educators and professional astronomers from all over the world. We started this journey exactly a year ago and have come a long way. Learning scientfic concepts and doing authentic scientific research was only part of the experience, we also learned to communicate across the country. [...] I am extremely proud of the work of each and every member of our team.
  • [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.
  • To say that I was proud [of my students] would be a gross understatement.
  • What made [this experience] most worthwhile was the opportunity to get involved with professionals who share our interest in science, as well as contribute to a field of study that is shared around the world.

Related Teams

AAS - 2011