Summer "Visit" - 2020 - Spider Team

Quotes

• The summer NITARP experience reaffirmed the incredible power of collaborative construction of knowledge and understanding. Astronomers have so much data available to them that it is overwhelming if not processed in small doses. [...] I have always known about the collaborative nature of science, but this experience has really made it clear how powerful it is as a check on erroneous understanding, poorly thought out processes, and simple error in work product. [...] I now see how much better the quality of the work is because of the collaborative process.
• [student:] Astronomers definitely have to be hard working and dedicated to their study. They have to be passionate about the data they are working with, and smart enough to understand it well. They also have to be good communicators, as it involves a lot of collaboration with peers. It’s also important that they are good at explaining their findings to the public, such as in a scientific journal.
• [student:] I discovered that there was more math involved in the work than I assumed there to be.
• The BEST thing about the week was seeing everyone rise to the opportunity to do this over Zoom. Seriously. There was a possibility of being burned out by “yet another Zoom”, or distractions from being at your home. Yet, we appeared to have the full buy in and attention for the entire time. I’m really proud of what we accomplished.
• The summer meeting was the essential moment that transformed all of the separate pieces of our knowledge and skill building into an integrated and meaningful process for carrying out our research project. Seeing this all come together over these precious days together, even with the challenges and limitations of a Zoom environment, felt awesome. The final day of independent discussion without Luisa was a critical element in producing this transformation. We HAD to figure out our process. This is as authentic of an “assessment” as we could have regarding the week's progress.

Related Teams

• Spider/Rebull