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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

  • There is a huge difference between a quick professional development and a thorough professional learning experience and NITARP provides the latter.
  • I didn't really expect the poster sessions to be as crowded or as enthusiastic as they were. People were very excited to share what they were learning about and people were really excited to ask questions about it.
  • 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.
  • I gained a new respect for astronomers and the patience required to do work in that field. My job as a teacher resets every year and is in constant flux, whereas there are astronomers who may spend their entire life working toward one discovery. Then, they may not even still be alive when the discovery is officially made. They were just one step in the process. That kind of persistence is impressive.
  • I wondered how our work would be received during the poster session. It was encouraging to see how genuinely interested and supportive the astronomers that visited were.

Related Teams

AAS - 2019