AAS - 2023

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. 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 2022 and 2023 NITARP teams attended the 2023 January AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. The 2022 class was presenting results and the 2023 class was starting up. We had alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 30 people to the AAS and had a grand time. Please see the special article on NITARP at the AAS. All of the posters we presented are here:

2022 Teams:

Ciambra et al., A More Complete List of YSO Candidates in AFGL 490
Benter et al., Survey of the Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products (SEIP) Catalog for Potential Debris Disks Around Main Sequence M Class Stars
Bonham et al., NGSS Science and Engineering Practices in Secondary Education through Real Astronomical Research
Swigert et al., Teacher Roles within NITARP: a 13-month Research Collaboration

Alumni:

Granucci, "Does a Solar Telescope generate more interest in astronomy than Night Observing Telescope?" (talk)
Kniezewski, "To Rain or Not to Rain: Correlating GOES Flare Class and Coronal Rain Statistics" (poster and press release; student alumna!)

Quotes

[NITARP] also changed my ideas about the people who are astronomers and how astronomy gets done. Astronomy, I realized, might be more dependent on other fields than any other branch of science (or study in general): you need geologists, physicists, chemists, biologists(!), meteorologists, and engineers to successfully pull off many astronomical projects. It’s important to build good relationships with these people who could make or break your project. Fortunately, it seems most of these people are passionate about what they do: they’re working there for a reason!
I enjoyed the process of original, authentic research. It was exciting to not know the answer: I was eager to see where the process took us and what we would find in the end. It was also cool to realize that I was helping to add a very tiny bit to the pile of human knowledge, that, somewhat in the words of Whitman, “the powerful play goes on, and I can contribute a (very tiny) verse”.
I tended to lump astronomy in with theoretical physics and its stagnation to some extent. Obviously, the opposite is true. The pace of discovery and analysis is amazing.
I was surprised by the level of detail and nuance involved in research (just when I thought I was all good, Varoujan would mention some little detail that made me rethink things I thought I knew. It was a very humbling experience), as well as the positive vibes from working with such great people.
It is hard feeling like you do not know what’s going on or not being strong in this content area, but it is an important reminder that this is often what our students go through. This experience was a good reminder that not everyone will absorb the content at the same pace and at the same time. I often felt behind on understanding the content, and when I did, I asked questions. It is important to ask questions!

AAS - 2023

Quotes

Related Teams