AAS - 2022

The Winter American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting is usually 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 2020/21 and 2022 NITARP teams had planned to attend the 2022 January AAS meeting in Salt Lake City, UT. However, the meeting was entirely cancelled due to COVID. We still have this special article about the NITARP teams finishing and starting up. All of the posters from the 2020/21 teams we presented are here. Most of the 2020/21 teams came instead to the June 2022 AAS meeting in Pasadena, CA instead. Those posters were iPosters, so the PDF versions that are here are still the versions from Jan 2022, but the numbers are from June 2022.

Science Poster - 101.18 Strasburger et al., "OIRMA: Optical-Infrared Reverberation Mapping of AGN"
Education Poster - 242.05 Sharif et al., "Bringing Experiential Education into the Classroom"
Education Poster - 242.02 Rodriguez et al., "Promoting Student Interest in Astronomy Using Student-Delivered Professional Development"
Science Poster - 406.05 Rodriguez et al, "Visible and IR Light Curve Variability Analysis of Young Stellar Objects in IC417"
Science Poster - 406.06 Urbanowski et al., "Cataloging and Analysis of Young Stellar Objects in the Spider Nebular (IC 417) Using Archival Visible and Infrared Data"
Alumni poster - 242.04 Blackwell, "Opening of New Observatory Facility at Phillips Exeter Academy"
Alumni talk - 212.03 Granucci, "Authentic Astronomy Research Hybrid Course - A method to reach all level of learners in astronomy"
Alumni poster (Jan only) - Rutherford, "Sixteen Years of Astronomy Research at Sullivan South High School" (submitted to Salt Lake City, not going to Pasadena)

The 2022 class got started on Jan 9, just before when the winter AAS would have been held. There are two teams in 2022.

Quotes

[student:] After NITARP, I am definitely going to look out for more authentic experiences (especially when it comes to research) where I can do new, original work in a self-enriching manner. There are a lot of programs out there, many of which I have gone through, that are very structured and “follow the procedure” type experiences. NITARP is nothing like those experiences and teaches you to be innovative, creative, and original, and I’ll definitely be looking for more experiences like it.
I use spreadsheets much more now. I do this because the kids need spreadsheet skills that they’re not getting through direct instruction in the “foundations of technology” classes. I also do it because aggregating and parsing data are defining STEM skills and kids shouldn’t have to wait for college before they start doing it.
The main resources [we used] were the image data set that are available via the IPAC and other resources for our archival work. This combined with the tools that are integrated to allow easy searching for, processing of, sorting, summarizing, etc of the information was amazing. This combined with the ability of our professional astronomer to allow the space for us to experience the learning curve for what is available, how to get it, manipulate it, summarize it, analyze it and then to finalize all of that with the magic mojo of coding to crunch all of that into code to crank out hundreds of products ready for the next steps in the process was so impressive and empowering. I may not have the time to become a coder, but I appreciate the talent and skill that it brings to the science more so now that I have completed NITARP.
My experience with NITARP has reinforced that the essential traits of an astronomer are a willingness to question the “obvious”, wonder about what is not yet known, and persistently (and openly) recognize the limitations of your present understanding, knowledge, skills, tools… and then do something to overcome the limitations. It has also become crystal clear just how small of a community the world of professional astronomers really is at present. It was also amazing to see how openly the data is shared for anyone with the time, talent, inclination, etc to pursue astronomical inquiry. And putting these last two together… there is SO much data filling the bucket that there is no shortage of questions to ponder nor data with which to pursue resolving them.
The NITARP experience provides the highest quality environment of building on the existing, limited, knowledge and skill sets of both teachers and students while challenging both in terms of both their depth and breadth. But more importantly, because it is real-world science carried out in collaboration with a team of both professionals and amateurs, it is a develops the personal perception of the participants of themselves as already being on the spectrum of what a scientist is and does… seeing themselves moving persistently along that spectrum toward a more knowledgeable and skilled place… and developing the meaningful confidence in their ability to pursue the next steps to remain engaged in STEM inquiry in the future. Participants have a personal and accurate first-person knowledge of what a career in STEM might require… which helps them to refine and define their own academic and professional development goals for the future. And, the engaging way in which this is accomplished creates new participants in the pipeline to professional participation in, and support of, the STEM disciplines.

AAS - 2022

Quotes

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