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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

  • It was very satisfying to be able to converse with the grad students about their science and actually understand what they were talking about. I felt proud when several of them remarked that they were surprised to learn that the research was undertaken by teachers and their high school students. They were surprised I was a teacher and that my students were “only in high school.” I guess we challenged several of their preconceptions about what teachers can accomplish.
  • 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:] 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.
  • 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:] One thing that shocked me was that not that many people asked us about the project when we were presenting. I expected everything to be more taxing and it turned out to be just exciting and fun.

Related Teams

AAS - 2014