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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

  • [student:] I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but my experience with NITARP has definitely made something in science a possibility. I definitely will participate in research in college now because I really enjoyed my time with NITARP.
  • [student]: I did not anticipate the overall goal of the project to change. However, I now know this is to be expected in a real research project.
  • After having taught fiercely in our public schools for almost 20 years, I can tell you that programs like NITARP are the ONLY programs I have ever heard of that help people understand what science actually. You want to invest in the future of the US?...Help programs like NITARP to spread the word; no one else seems to know what it is.
  • [student:] Our teacher gave us the basic rules, and just let us go. In the beginning, we had no idea where to start. We were supposed to pick a topic of research and I remember being so used to teachers telling me every single thing I had to accomplish and every thing I wasn’t supposed to do or try. This project taught me that you will never get a checklist in a scientific career. There are no answers yet, and it’s up to you to figure them out. This is why I have trouble with the way students are taught in school. It’s easy to get an A when you have everything you’re supposed to do as a checklist, but there is no learning in that. You can’t fail at something that’s already done for you.
  • A program like this keeps me connected with my passion and provides the opportunity to share it with students who might someday pursue STEM careers and make amazing contributions.

AAS - 2015