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  • 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

  • [...] it is really hard to isolate one moment or cite one experience as the most interesting. In fact, what stands out to me is the cumulative experience. It is comparing my ignorance during the AAS Seattle meeting with my comprehension during the AAS Honolulu meeting. [...] I was a bit overwhelmed and a little unnerved about what I had gotten myself into. [...] during AAS Honolulu, I was amazed at how much more I was able to take in during the conference sessions. Not only that, but I was so pleased and proud and the performance of my students, [...] during the poster session for our science research. They were able to explain our project so coolly and completely. That they benefited so much from the experience is extremely gratifying to me as a teacher.
  • [student:] I learned so much and met so many interesting people. It was intense mentally, which I expected it would be, but definitely worth every second.
  • [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.
  • [student:] Not only do we learn educational topics with the science content but we also learn those 21st century skills of working with other people, and through this experience it is so much more than just working with peers it is working with people of all ages and from all over. It is learning how to navigate difficult new concepts and work in a professional way with people you have never met face to face. This experience gave us a glimpse into the world of NASA that people from my area don’t get the chance to see.
  • [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