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

[student:] I’ve learned to be less critical of myself. I’ve realized that the actual learning process is much more valuable than always getting the correct answer. I’ve been less discouraged when I get confused because I know understand that it is good to be confused, and that even the greatest astronomers get confused by problems.
[student:] I plan to attend college and major in astrophysics. I hope to someday work for NASA or a private research facility. This experience gave me the confidence I needed to solidify these career goals, transforming my fear into impatience.
[student:] A year ago, I would never have dreamed of applying to an Ivy League college. Now, I’ve applied to three. A year ago, I was teetering between art and science. Now, I am looking ahead to a college major and eventual career in astrophysics with the utmost confidence. I am about to embark on a journey into a heavily male-dominated science field with some of the hardest mathematics courses in existence, but I am no longer afraid. I am simply impatient.
[student:] I learned one very important thing about astronomy. I’d always had this romanticised picture in my head of astronomers gazing through telescopes at the night sky and making revolutionary discoveries left and right. Thus, this trip was a bit of a wake up call for me; I now know that astronomy involves a lot more spreadsheet work and data analysis before any life-changing discoveries can be made.
[student:] I would say that I learned how to do research, understand space and the formation of stars, how data from telescopes is used, how to be more confident, how to ask more questions, and how to work better in a team. I experienced the joy of discovering my passion, and I started on a path to my dream job.

AAS - 2017

Quotes

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