• 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:] Having the experience of working with other intelligent, hardworking, curious people makes me want to do more of it in the future.
  • [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.
  • Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, my unconscious misconceptions of science continue to burble forth. I finally came to understand that “research” is a much broader term than I thought. [...]the struggle continues, and continues to delight.
  • NITARP has given me is a glimpse of an infinitude of pursuable interests.
  • [student:] Experiences like NITARP teach participants to take responsibility for their own learning. For example., If I wanted to get good at the software we used for this project, the onus was on me to practice and learn it. There was no grade nor enforcer making me. I think this accountability to one’s self is valuable, and absent from current education systems. Experience like NITARP teach participants how to teach themselves and learn on their own whereas traditional school often just drags students along to where they have to be without regard to the underlying quality of the students learning.

Related Teams

The 2025 NITARP application is now available! Go here for the instructions. Applications are due by 3pm Pacific time, Friday Sep 13, 2024. (NOTE: contingent on availability of funds and AAS travel!)