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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 want to continue our research! I no longer feel like there is an “us” and “them” between us astronomy educators and those astronomers, and I’d like it to continue. I want to continue the teaching that I have been doing, but I want to get more students involved in research.
  • I did not anticipate the confidence that I would gain through the experience. There was so much information overload at the first AAS that I was a little overwhelmed. But, I didn’t realize how much I’d learned over the year until I went to the year 2 AAS.
  • [student:] This experience definitely changed my thoughts about astronomy and astronomers. I thought that it would be a bunch of old, white guys who were socially awkward. After getting to meet astronomers and work with some, I realized that was not the case. They are a diverse and extremely friendly group who are more than happy to help you learn.
  • [student:] NITARP didn’t necessarily change my career plans, but it definitely broadened them. I’ve pretty much always known I want to do something involving space. It’s just been what interests me for longer than I can remember. What NITARP, and specifically the AAS has shown me is there are way more options to think about than I thought. I still don’t know what I’ll be going into, but whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll end up being passionate about it.

Related Teams

AAS - 2020