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:

Science Poster - McElroy et al., "OIRMA: Optical Infrared Reverberation Mapping of AGN"
Science Poster - Anderson, et al., "Identifying Candidate Young Stellar Objects in the Spider Nebula (IC 417) Using Archival Visible and Infrared Data"
Education Poster - Rodriguez et al., "Methods for Retention and Promoting Self-Efficacy in Secondary Students in Astronomical Research"
Education Poster - Sharif et al., "Rich Experiential Education in a Remote Setting by NITARP"

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

Quotes

[From NITARP,] Teachers learn what it is to be overwhelmed by new material that the presenters have long ago mastered. This humbling experience is profound and deepens empathy with students, and leads to better teaching.
[student:] The first time getting to use the IRSA Viewer software along with DS9 really opened my eyes to the professional realm of astronomy. Having understood and interacted with such advanced programs blew away my expectations. As a student I am conditioned to always expect a modified version of data or curriculum fitted to accommodate a learning situation, but the NITARP program gave me that taste of what it all leads to at the end of my educational career.
[student:] Astronomers are more sociable than I previously thought them to be. All of them are happy and willing to talk about their work and they are also very willing to answer any questions you ask them. They are also more open to amateur astronomers, like me, and are willing to describe the basics.
[As a result of NITARP,] I spend more time talking about diligence, persistence, resiliency and collaboration as being as essential as knowledge and skill. I am also just more excited than ever to bring real world data and research processes into my classroom.
[student:] I never knew how much astronomers worked with computer programs and data, and I think this helped me gain a new sort of respect for them: this is not easy work!

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

AAS - 2021

Quotes

Related Teams