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Summer Visit - 2015 - IC417

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 IC417 team came to visit in June 2015. The core team educators attended, plus 8 students.


Quotes

  • Several of my students have started rethinking their educational paths/choices (thinking more towards something relating to their experiences from this summer.)
  • The students always impress me. This year they exceeded expectations in their ability to make their computers to what they needed them to do. I was surprised by how efficiently the group attacked the various tasks in the research process. I feel very good about where we are and I am optimistic that we’ll follow through with some nice results.
  • Astronomy research often involves using public astronomy archives, and sometimes it only involves using archives. Success in astronomy is not just a result of brilliance (though brilliance doesn’t hurt). Success also requires quite a bit of persistence.
  • This experience certainly has changed my thoughts about astronomy and astronomers. I really did not know what they did except teach college classes. I enjoyed seeing the less formal and family friendly atmosphere at Spitzer. This experience will be shared with my students for some time.
  • I was impressed by the many different paths that a career in astronomy can take, from engineering to PR jobs to theoretical science.

Summer Visit - 2015 - IC417