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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

  • The pursuit of science, the business of pushing back the boundary of knowledge by tiny bits, is a much messier, far more beautiful, intricate and rewarding process than the “What is Science” chapter at the beginning of every school book.
  • [student:] [NITARP] has helped me see that the science isn’t just for a class or a science project but, can actually be used in real life. So this will help me focus more and find other ways to apply the things I learn.
  • I think a great outcome of this was simply seeing how well the kids could come together to address this problem. Additionally, I would stress the value in being able to communicate scientific ideas with people in other parts of the country. It was an amazing experience unlike anything else that I have experienced in my education so far. I teach in a small rural city so it is really nice to see how people in the larger districts addressed various social and academic issues. Since I focused my undergrad on education I didn't have much time doing authentic research, something that I felt I as definitely missing in my classes since I was not able to give them real life examples that I had on how research could be used.
  • 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 have added a whole new dimension of astronomical research and support for my students working on individual projects and competitions that was missing. I’ve also added a plethora of new contacts, both educators and scientists, to my professional learning network. My confidence and ability to teach students more space related curriculum has also increased.

Related Teams

AAS - 2019