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Summer Visit - 2013 - CM4Sy

The summer visit to Caltech is 3-4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The CM4Sy team came to visit in July 2013. The core team educators attended, plus 11 students.

Quotes

  • [The best thing was] Reviewing the project and doing the actual number crunching and data analysis. I found that the best and most part of the NITARP experience. It was rewarding to do the data analysis and to discuss it with one another.
  • I also learned that modern astronomy research is often conducted using vast databases of archived data collected years previously. When my past students did astronomy research projects, they used data that they themselves collected[..]. After working at Caltech with the group, though, I have come to realize that what my students have been doing previously were small projects compared to our AGN study—they were really just glorified lab activities. I have been giving a lot of thought to this since I returned home and am planning major changes in the sort of projects that my research students will be working on in the future.
  • [student:] It was a great experience working with that kind of astronomical data.
  • It was most rewarding to watch my students gain confidence in science and to shed some self-doubt. I think I shed a good deal of self-doubt as well.
  • [student:] you never really hear about everything involved in being an astronomer and I feel like after being here for a week I have a better understanding of the subject astronomy in general and careers in it as well.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2013 - CM4Sy