• NASA
  • IPAC

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:] Don’t be afraid to ask a dumb question. Ask it 10 times if you must. It’s better to look like an idiot and get the answer you need than to go in blind. I would not have been able to do this by myself. Guidance helped me get back on track when I was completely lost. What kept me going was my passion for astrophysics.
  • 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.
  • [student:] I now know that I want to continue to pursue astronomy, but as a hobby instead of a full career. The amount of time astronomers dedicate to their work is astounding and I don’t think that I could do that.
  • I did not anticipate how polished and impressive the posters and presentations were from last year’s cohort (Sunday afternoon, Monday evening and the individual poster presentations in the exhibit hall). Students and teachers were really well-versed on the astronomy as well as the data collection and processing. It really showed how much was learned in a relatively short time.
  • 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