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AAS - 2014

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 2013 and 2014 NITARP teams attended the 2014 January AAS meeting in National Harbor, MD (outside of Washington, DC). The 2013 class was presenting results and the 2014 class was starting up. We had a lot of alumni raise their own money to come back as well. We sent about 75 people to the AAS and had a grand time. Please see the special article on NITARP at the AAS. One of our participants, Peggy Piper, participated in a Congressional briefing on Thursday! All the posters we presented are linked from the team's pages below, except for HG-WELS and SIRXS, because they are the two new teams.

Quotes

  • [student:] All in all, NITARP really was an amazing experience. The coolest part to me was that I was doing REAL science--we didn't know what sort of answers we were going to get. The chance to do real, original research is irreplaceable. Coming in to NITARP, I had next to none astronomy background. NITARP opened my eyes up to the astronomy field, and I definitely want to take college courses now.
  • [student:] Going into the convention center, I was a bit overwhelmed and intimidated by all the astronomers and astrophysicists that were there. To my surprise, I found that everyone was very inviting and inquisitive about his or her research, and mine.
  • [student:] This experience has shown me many of the applicable qualities that subjects such as calculus and physics hold.
  • [student:] I have a new appreciation for all the hard work that goes into every single project out there, and I have a new fascination with just how vast this field is.
  • It seems to me that programs like NITARP and other engaging education programs need to be studied/analyzed and results used to drive new programs, both in high school and college. We can’t depend on student interest only to supply the next generation of astronomers. We need to be actively engaged in that task. I am surprised that so few astronomers see the urgency of the need.

Related Teams

AAS - 2014