AAS - 2017

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 2016 and 2017 NITARP teams attended the 2017 January AAS meeting in Dallas, TX. The 2016 class was presenting results and the 2017 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:

2016 teams:
- Science Poster - Orr et al., "Finding High Quality Young Star Candidates in Ceph C Using X-ray, Optical, and IR Data"
- Education Poster - Orr et al., "STEM Education is Missing This ..."
- Science Poster - Kilts et al., "Searching for Short-Term Variable Active Galactic Nuclei: A Vital Step Towards Using AGN as Standard Candles"
- Education Poster - Kohrs et al., "NITARP: Changing Perceptions of Science Among Secondary Students and Teachers"
Returning Alumni teams:
- Education Poster - Bensel & Cool, "Are We Alone? GAVRT Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Project"
- Education Poster - Tran et al., "Analysis of Visual Double Stars"
- Science Poster - Johnson et al., "An Infrared Search for Young Stellar Objects in IC 1396"
- Science Poster - Wilson et al., "Searching for Infrared Excesses around White Dwarf Stars"
- Education Poster - Linder et al., "Confirming and Improving Ross Variable Star RV Del"
- Science Poster - Linder et al., "Rotational Study of Ambiguous Taxonomic Classified Asteroids"
NITARP Management:
- Evaluations And Impact (presented as education poster): Rebull et al., "The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP): Lessons Learned"

Quotes

While it is widely reported that students entering STEM fields in college feel like they hit a brick wall when science and engineering courses shift from the typically conceptual level of high school to the quantitative modelling of college, NITARP students arrive on campus having already seen firsthand that “doing” science means doing math – and that as intricate and occasionally tedious as this may be, it makes sense. NITARP students learn in their bones that math and the tools of math comprise the most natural way to talk substantively about science. NITARP students are ready for science in college.
NITARP 1) improved my classroom teaching and 2) by expanding my understanding of astronomy, astronomical research and science in general, gave me so much more to work with as I continue to broaden my students’ experience of mathematics.
NITARP should be a model for the type of education that our high school students should be able to experience, and the model that would most benefit them.
I really enjoyed watching the ways that the older members of our team supported and interacted with the younger students. They really bonded together better than I expected given the range of ages and skills. I was also impressed by the number of people that came to talk with the students and really engaged with them in conversations about the science and process related to their poster and talked with them about their experience. Astronomy is a wonderfully supportive community.
I cannot imagine a better opportunity for students to use actual data and work with a professional astronomer. Regardless of what kind of science a student wishes to pursue in the future, working with REAL scientists and REAL data will give them experiences that will prepare them for college and beyond.

AAS - 2017

Quotes

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