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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

  • The first day I was confused and really started worrying about my ability to comprehend the science I was going to need to know. What helped was spending the next couple of days visiting with the students. I realized I was going to be involved in a lot of work but as long as I stuck with it I would eventually grasp the concepts that seemed out of reach. The students spent time explaining as long as I was willing to ask.
  • [student:] I learned about new resources that I didn’t even know existed. Almost like finding a new continent, vast and ready to be explored. The scientist helped us get familiar with what the buttons did and how to understand what the buttons did, but we were the ones who decided which buttons to press, and we ended up being excellent and ambitious button-pressers.
  • 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.
  • [student:] I didn’t anticipate being surrounded by other smart high schoolers. I was pleasantly surprised to meet the other students and converse with them about topics we were passionate about.
  • [student:] Students learn so much, it's crazy. NITARP opens up a whole world of experiences and opportunities that are really invaluable.

AAS - 2015