• NASA
  • IPAC

AAS - 2013

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.

We were out in force at the AAS 2013 meeting in Long Beach, CA! A record number of NITARP-affiliated people attended, including the 2012 class finishing up and the 2013 class getting going. The 80 or so NITARP-affiliated folks made up about 3% of the AAS attendees.

Special article on AAS attendees!  And don't miss Danielle Miller's blog!

Quotes

  • I always knew as an astronomy educator that I [would] miss out on the joy of discovery. Sure, I've worked with many astronomers over the years - but it was mainly to interview them about their explorations, their findings. The scientists were often excited and willing to share their work - to describe what they found, and what it all means. I wondered what it's like to achieve and feel that -- to see what's never been seen! I was always curious on how they did it exactly. Sure, I knew it was a lot of work -- lots of math, physics, time, expertise, etc. But I never knew the steps, the details. I never could fathom the depth of what a true astronomer does.
  • In school when we do an experiment or lab in class, students are usually asked to predict a result. They write a conclusion based on the accuracy of their prediction. Although I understood before I was involved with NITARP that real science is not as clear-cut as classroom experiments, I was still surprised how complicated our results were, and how many additional questions it raised.
  • I have a much better sense of what research astronomy is about now, and I think I will have more confidence to try new things (related to astronomy) going forward.
  • My perception of astronomy has broadened into a realization that, behind research, there is problem-solving, collaboration, creativity, excitement, and curiosity.
  • The most interesting part of the experience was seeing how the entire process of conducting research progressed, especially when our project was modified.

Related Teams

AAS - 2013