• NASA
  • IPAC

AAS - 2021

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.  This year, the pandemic forced the Jan 2021 meeting online, and meant that we didn't select a new class for 2021, so only one class is attending the online AAS. 

The 2020 NITARP teams attended the 2021 January AAS. We sent about 30 people to the AAS. All of the posters we presented are here:

2020 Teams:

Also see video "turbo talks" from ORMA team : science and education.

 

Quotes

  • [student:] I didn’t realize how math-involved astronomers are! Not only are they collecting data and observing, but they also analyze, sort, and interpret it.
  • [...]one of the greatest lessons I think I learned about professional scientists… they are drowning in challenges but keep smiling, keep questioning, and keep persisting. Building in the necessity of that kind of resiliency can’t be faked.
  • [student:] Now I feel more comfortable in both communication and comprehension of topics in astronomy as compared to the mindset I held before taking part in the program.
  • What took place over the previous 12 months for myself and my students involved in the project was authentic learning. My students and I were interested in the project not because of a grade to receive at the end of the project nor because of a test that would assess our knowledge and determine our progression with respect to our peers.
  • [student:] I loved looking at the IRSA catalogue and gathering the data. To put it into the Topcat software and actually see, with my own eyes, individual points of data from a real, legitimate, astronomical object was incredible.

Related Teams

We're back from the Jan 2026 AAS and we had a grand time!