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AAS - 2019

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 2018 and 2019 NITARP teams attended the 2019 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2018 class was presenting results and the 2019 class was starting up. We had 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:

2018 Teams:

NITARP Management:

Returning Alumni Teams:

 


Quotes

  • [student:] I think one of the most interesting things I did was having conversations with college students and their posters. The reality of the experience was more than I could have imagined, having the opportunity to have one to one conversations with people making substantial research in the field was more than what I expected.
  • The NITARP experience is one that has had a profound effect on me—it has changed the way I look at science, at teaching, and at a lot of other things connected to my job. I really cannot imagine not doing things like this in the future—it has changed my life in a lot of positive ways.
  • I am trying to make my astronomy class more discussion-based and trying to make it more inquiry-based. I was able to network with other teachers and got some ideas of how to move away from lecture. Although lecture has some usefulness I really want to try to be more inquiry driven.
  • I knew that, like any scientists or teachers, astronomers LOVE their profession. I have no idea why but I never thought there would be so many astronomers. A lot of people love astronomy and they do not resemble each other. I was presently surprised by the diversity in every aspect.
  • There is no limit to what teachers and students participating in NITARP can do! With the expertise of scientists, mentoring teachers, and the enthusiasm of students and teachers working as a team, NITARP provides an experience like no other program out there. The long-lasting impact goes far beyond the year long experience to increase quality and quantity of space related programs in the classroom and community.

AAS - 2019