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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.
  • [student:] My experience with the Spitzer Program gave me knowledge, inspiration but most of all confidence in myself. It gave me a chance to enhance my speaking and presentation skills by meeting and talking to so many brilliant people.
  • I think it also was an invaluable experience for [my students] to see that it is "ok" to ask questions.
  • It invigorated me to become part of the greater message, which is the story of space and ground based observatories and the incredible infrastructure built by NASA and its commercial and institutional partners. Never in the history of this great science has so much data and use of incredible instruments been available to not just the scientific community but the general public as well. All one has to do is just ask!
  • My observation was that [our students'] ideas for their future expanded with the whole experience. That science became more than a class but an endeavor in which they could participate.

Related Teams

AAS - 2011