• NASA
  • IPAC

AAS - 2020

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 2019 and 2020 NITARP teams attended the 2020 January AAS meeting in Honolulu, HI. The 2019 class was presenting results and the 2020 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:

2019 Teams:

NITARP Management:

Returning Alumni Teams:

Quotes

  • [student:] This experience made me realize how many jobs are under the umbrella of astronomy – how many different things you can do and learn under that umbrella. You could have any number of skills or interests and still be able to work in astronomy.
  • I believe that no one can walk away from the NITARP experience unchanged. Everyone talks about the learning curve, and it is definitely steeper for some of us than others. I believe the “powers that be” need to know how this year-long astronomy boot camp not only builds discipline knowledge but also group learning dynamics. I have never been so proud to say that I have been part of an exceptional group, and in turn organization. I not only learned what it means to be a teacher leader, but assist in making teacher leaders.
  • I believe this experience will make me a better ambassador of my college and my fields (sciences and education). I have a renewed interest in working within all science disciplines, unafraid to meet the interests or questions of my students. The NITARP experience was the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. I hope to get involved with more research groups, beyond my campus.
  • Students learn more from doing and by doing a real research project they learn more than any standardized test could ever hope to measure.
  • [student:] I think the most interesting thing was to see the number of females within the astronomy community as it feels as though women go underrepresented in many science fields. I did not anticipate as many women to be at IPAC or at AAS and I enjoyed seeing that.

Related Teams

AAS - 2020