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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

  • People seemed very interested in how high school students could do authentic astronomy research. They were impressed that high-schoolers could do so much. It made me proud to be a part of this project.
  • There is much more to astronomical research than I anticipated. My view of astronomers hasn't changed, except I have gained MUCH more respect for them and the work that they do.
  • Honestly, I left a bit more in love with astronomy. I just plain had fun wandering and treated myself to time as a learner. It is not often we, educators, get to slide out of expert mode and into learner mode.
  • Before ever having experienced an American Astronomical Society meeting, I thought I was well versed in the astronomer's culture. After taking numerous classes, doing hands-on labs, and even having worked in the field of astronomy education for several years now I also thought I knew what an astronomer did. My experience has been one of culture shock. [...] The AAS conference is a factory for knowledge and truth about the Universe. As David Helfand, president of the society said in his opening remarks, "We do astronomy because it defines us as human beings." I'm just now truly beginning to understand.
  • [student:] This experience will probably make me try to work harder in the classroom to master the basics that are necessary to pursuing a job in this field.

Related Teams

AAS - 2013