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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 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.
  • It’s really something to get to sit there and hear scientists announce brand new discoveries, especially when they were announcing new exoplanets that had been found. The main thing that surprised me was just how vast the field of astronomy is, and that not everyone is an expert in everything. It made me feel a lot better about all the things I didn’t know. I was constantly writing down things to look up later, especially the meaning of various acronyms.
  • I thought I knew astronomy and quickly became aware that my depth of knowledge was a mere puddle compared to the Marianna trench.
  • [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.
  • [student:] This program completely altered my perception of what astronomy is and what astronomers actually do. Sure, there is a lot of data analysis and paper writing, but seeing everyone come together at AAS showed me the passion these people have for their careers and it was a really cool thing to see.

Related Teams

AAS - 2019