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Summer Visit - 2015 - LADDT

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 LADDT team came to visit in June 2015. The core team educators attended, plus 14 students.

Quotes

  • One of the big benefits was how quickly our depth of understanding increased just by being able to talk to each other and work together. Personally, I would not have been able to think as deeply as I did without the in person interaction and conversations over lunch.
  • Another moment of frustration involved several hours of calculations based on misinterpretation of data and formulas. It was a wonderfully humbling learning experience for all of us involved. The student especially seemed to appreciate seeing their teachers hit the dead end and have to do an about face.
  • Astronomy is pretty much all about the math so you better be good at it.
  • [student:] the benefits of actually working together with the group greatly outweigh the financial and logistical hassle. When we were all together, we got to know and understand each other, which in turn improved our ability to work cohesively as a group, which in turn betters our project.
  • [student:] I think the most interesting thing we did was the tour of JPL. My dad has still not stopped pestering me for every last detail.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2015 - LADDT