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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

  • I have already brought back aspects of the AAS conference to my students by sharing photos, websites, and my summaries. Yes, understanding astronomy will definitely help me teach NGSS lesson planning and help [my student teachers] with cross-curricular writing.
  • I thought I knew astronomy and quickly became aware that my depth of knowledge was a mere puddle compared to the Marianna trench.
  • 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.
  • [student:] [NITARP is] truly a once in a lifetime experience. The friendships and connects that I made throughout this program would have never happened without it. It truly opens students to new experiences and helps them figure out what they want to do later in life. Along with that, AAS was a massive learning experience for anyone with an interest in astronomy. It’s just at a level of knowledge that you can’t get while in high school without this opportunity.
  • I was never able to pursue any formal instruction in astronomy so it always seemed out of reach and astronomers seemed beyond my scope. This experience opened my eyes and alleviated a lot of the hesitancy I felt in pursuing something I’ve always enjoyed and been passionate about.

Related Teams

AAS - 2019