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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

  • It so amazing how much can be learned about the cosmos around us from the color, location and intensity of light, gravity waves and neutrinos… the multimessenger universe is unfolding before our eyes. I am so jazzed to be given the opportunity to participate as a researcher in some small part of this great adventure.
  • [student:] The most interesting thing I learned is the fact that the astronomy community, including the astronomers at NITARP, were very collaborative and certainly friendly. I usually just assumed astronomers kept to themselves and/or thought that they were too good to help a high school student like me understand their research. This welcoming community did not at all follow my expectations and showed me that the professional astronomy field, and hopefully other STEM fields, are friendly.
  • [student:] The experience will help me with moments where I feel over my head. Previous to NITARP, if there was a moment in class, I really just had no idea what was going on, I would give up, stop paying attention, and just vow to pick up the information from the start another time. I learned through our initial virtual meetings that just does not work very well. Efficient notetaking, even when I don’t really understand what’s being said is a skill I’ll take with me for a long time.
  • I was intimidated at the start of this project because I felt like many of the people on my team and people that I saw present at the AAS last year knew more than me. But, after the whole experience is now completed, I have learned that the area of astronomy is so vast that no one is an expert on everything. I learned to appreciate the skills/knowledge that I brought to the team as well as everything that I learned from my teammates.
  • As an educator, at times it can feel like you are isolated or on your own. I knew that NITARP is a team but for once I felt like I was part of something bigger than just me. I know now the true meaning of teamwork especially as it relates to science research. I am very proud to be considered a part of [our] team. I knew that there would be teamwork but I did not anticipate how cohesively we would come together. This was truly a very rewarding experience.

Related Teams

AAS - 2020