• NASA
  • IPAC

AAS - 2024

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 2023 and 2024 NITARP teams are attending the 2024 January AAS meeting in New Orleans, LA. The 2023 class was presenting results and the 2024 class was starting up. We had alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 50 people to the AAS and had a grand time. Please see the press release on NITARP from the AAS, and the special online article about NITARP at the AAS. All of the posters we presented are here. (In addition to the iPoster sessions as listed here, the physical versions of the 2023 teams' posters were up at the IPAC booth all day Tuesday.)

2023 teams:

Alumni:

  • 167.01 Sperling et al., Student-Led High Altitude Ballooning into Solar Eclipses (Monday 5:30-6:30)
  • 171.03 Rebull et al., NITARP Lesson Plans: Bite-Size Pieces of Authentic Science Research Experiences (Monday 5:30-6:30)
  • 171.06 Newland, Using Google Colab to Teach Hubble-Lemaitre's Law with BOSS Data (Monday 5:30-6:30)
  • 176.02 Rebull et al., Young Stellar Object Candidates in IC 417 (Monday 5:30-6:30)
  • 203.03 Wojciak et al., Exploring Color-Magnitude Relationships Among Quasars with z between 1.5-1.75 (Tuesday 9-10)
  • 458.21 Jones & Rutherford, The Three-Dimensional Structure of IC 2391 (Thursday 1-2)

Quotes

  • The most interesting thing I did (fyi, this is like picking between ice cream sundaes and chocolate cake for dessert) was listening to the students present their posters at the iPoster sessions and the IPAC booth. What was interesting to me was their absolute ownership of the work which I am excited about for my own students (as well as for myself). I also enjoyed learning about the science and process behind their work.
  • Being part of NITARP has really re-ignited my love of science.
  • [student:] I have always wanted to work in Aerospace. I still do not know exactly where I want to work but this experience has given me a taste of what hands-on research is like and it was really fun. Presenting and sharing our research with the AAS community was an experience that I loved and want to do again. So yes, this program has impacted what I want to study and my career path.
  • This experience has made me realize that anyone can participate in astronomy research and that even amateur astronomers are an important part of scientific discovery and research. I've always had the thought that astronomers need to be masters at physics and math, and that's true to an extent. However, there are ways to "do astronomy" without having a PhD in it.
  • Giving highly motivated teachers a community to build their skills is a critical component of professional development that isn’t always an option, especially in small districts or specialized areas. NITARP gives an opportunity for teachers from smaller or more rural communities to find colleagues to collaborate and provide opportunities for students they would not otherwise have.

Related Teams

AAS - 2024