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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.

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

  • Confusion is the normal, and much appreciated, state during a NITARP experience. But it is that healthy, wonderful form of confusion that is triggering curiosity and engagement. The experience of the professional astronomers with individuals of our limited background knowledge and skills allowed them to constantly adjust the pacing and content of the experience to keep us on the edge of comfort/confusion. This is the sweet spot for cognitive challenge and growth, so it was a true pleasure to experience it in the NITARP setting with such fidelity and control over such a long period of time. The NITARP experience is masterful at supporting our development as amateur astronomers and professional educators. I loved every minute of it… even the, “wait a minute… what? No seriously… ??????” moments. Keep doing exactly this… let us flounder to the point of ALMOST tearful frustration… and then swoop in to pull us back just inside the edge of our comfort zones… it is awesome to experience.
  • [student:] I have always wanted to be an engineer, and although NITARP hasn’t changed that ultimate goal, it has given me an extreme passion for research. Now, I want to get involved with undergraduate research as soon as possible in college, and without NITARP, I don’t think that interest would have emerged.
  • This is the only experience I've seen in physical science where you are as much a scientist as anyone else. Often it feels the teachers are just spectators.
  • [student:] I always used to think astronomy and research, in general, was a very cutthroat, individual field where it’s every scientist for themselves. But through NITARP, it’s become clear to me that astronomy is nothing like this at all. The whole goal of this field is to work together to create a greater understanding of our universe. Everyone is collaborative, encouraging, and happy to help you learn.
  • I am pursuing personal growth in terms of introductory level gathering of spectroscopic data and its analysis. I am pursuing knowledge and skill to transform my theoretical understandings of astronomy into practical real-world, data-driven inquiries for my students… variable star observing, color imaging, astrometric tracking of asteroids, etc.

Related Teams

AAS - 2022