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Summer Visit - 2014 - HG-WELS

The summer visit to Caltech is 3-4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The HG-WELS team came to visit in July 2014. The core team educators attended, plus 10 students.

 

Quotes

  • One of the things that NITARP changed in regards to how I viewed astronomy and astronomers is the use of archived data. Prior to NITARP I always thought of astronomers using data they had collected.
  • [student: Real astronomy is] Making charts, sifting through data... that is what they really do! (Although I didn’t know it would be this hardcore... I’m beat!) And snacks, snacks are always a part of scientific research!
  • [student:] Perseverance, patience, and creativity are all important to be an astronomer. And of course, it’s helpful if you are smart and good at math and science.
  • The excitement about the trip has translated into my having an excellent group of students in my fall astronomy class who are excited about applying what we learned this summer. Four of them have expressed interest in the one available spot on the team.
  • [student:] The sheer complexity of what we were doing was surprising to me. Yet, the steps were pretty simple. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was actually making headway in science.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2014 - HG-WELS