• NASA
  • IPAC

AAS - 2015

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 2014 and 2015 NITARP teams attended the 2015 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2014 class was presenting results and the 2015 class was starting up. We had many alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 50 people to the AAS and had a grand time. Please see the special article on NITARP at the AAS. All of the posters we presented are here:

Quotes

  • High school students are hungry for authentic research experiences, and both high school teachers and students benefit immensely from having contact with a professional astronomer. This may seem inefficient (because it costs a lot of money to connect individuals with professionals), but it can change lives, and there are wonderful ripple effects.
  • [student:] I’ve seen people coming from different schools and realized that many times the school they come from doesn’t really matter. It’s the passion that comes from inside that really makes a person successful.
  • Through NITARP, teachers and students become ambassadors for authentic science. We can now tell other colleagues and family what real science is like and how important it is to continue the mission of learning more about our universe.
  • One of the most surprising aspects of this process has been to discover just welcoming everyone has been. MOST of the astronomers with whom we interacted have been incredibly gracious and generous
  • My students saw a community of people who truly love what they do and are willing to explain it. They made many contacts and saw what science is all about – sharing discoveries and collaboration. Most importantly, they discovered that they can do this themselves, that they can belong to this community as well. Now they know they can become scientists and engineers themselves and not be afraid to follow their dreams and passions. Even if they don’t plan on being astronomers, at least now they know they can be successful in any science or engineering career. And for those that do plan on becoming astronomers (including one of my students), they made valuable contacts for internships, undergrad and graduate schools, scholarships, etc.

Related Teams

AAS - 2015