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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

  • [student:] Granted none of this is easy, but I think it has made me a stronger learner as well.
  • [Astronomers need to] be patient, thorough, mathematical as well has have a good understanding of most different types of science as astronomy seems to be related to all branches. You also need to be able to communicate effectively.
  • [student:] The best thing about this trip was getting out in the real world. I feel like I have such an advantage over my classmates now because I have done this. I know what I can do and that will just make growing up so much easier/more exciting by having an idea of what I can do.
  • 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.
  • [student:] The most important/interesting thing I learned was that engineering is more creative than I ever thought. I learned how to do actual research, which was super useful, but going to the JPL and seeing the products of science and engineering together opened my mind to the possibility of being an engineer.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2015 - IC417