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Summer Visit - 2023 - SCHARP

The summer visit to Caltech is 4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The SCHARP team came to visit in June 2023. The 5 core team educators attended, plus 10 students.

Quotes

  • The least surprising thing [I learned] was the dedication and brilliance of those involved in astronomy research. I realize what a special group of people they really are to understand and persevere with their work.
  • "Real astronomy" is using real data to analyze and make conclusions. Research is an iterative process in the sense that we get some answers that generate more questions. And we did that!
  • There is nothing like the group being in the same room to ask questions and to support each other. Also, listening to others’ questions is an important piece of this project – many times, I didn’t think of the question that was posed before it was asked.
  • The best thing about the trip was collaborating with my group. Everyone was so willing to help each other and work toward a common goal. You don’t always see that in many work environments.
  • [student:] The least surprising thing I learned was that even scientists feel stupid sometimes. I feel like that makes a lot of sense and makes me feel a little better about how I feel when trying to do research.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2023 - SCHARP