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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:] Seeing the same people giving the talks coming into the cold to see stars made me realize that they were incredibly passionate about their work, not only as a scientific subject but as a personal mission. For me as a student, it helped me realize that it's more important to pursue a subject because you want to do it than to do so for the sake of pursuing a subject, and it will have a definite influence on my academic decisions.
  • My students did such a great job, too presenting. As they get older, I am certain they will realize the value of this experience. I think talking to people who are passionate about what they do is the best way to motivate students to seek challenging professions will that provide purpose and passion in their lives.
  • [student:] I had never realized just how large of an impact and interest this field has on the public from the side of those who are involved in the actual astronomy.
  • Working with teachers and astronomers across the country was great for my personal knowledge. Working across times zones was another fun, but interesting challenge. Learning how to work with completely new people, being in a new place, learning new material, all of these experiences help shape me better as a person.
  • [student:] At the conference, I learned astronomers were much more approachable than I had expected. I anticipated them to be cold and condensing [condescending] towards me since I am only in high school, yet everyone I interacted with was friendly and welcoming. I really enjoyed the experience because [..] I really think it opened my eyes to the “adult” world. The entire program helped [me] to grow as a person and come to learn more about myself and what I want to do as an occupation. I am very fortunate for this opportunity and I hope everyone continues to learn and grow from this incredible experience.

Related Teams

AAS - 2014