• NASA
  • IPAC

AAS - 2025

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 2024 and 2025 NITARP teams are attending the 2025 January AAS meeting in National Harbor, MD. The 2024 class is presenting results and the 2025 class is starting up. We had alumni raise money to come back as well. We sent about 40 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 2024 teams' posters were up at the IPAC booth all day Tuesday.)

2024 teams:

Alumni:


Quotes

  • [student:] I was pretty biased going into it thinking everyone would be like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory or lofty like Neil deGrasse Tyson. I was absolutely wrong in this. EVERYONE I interacted with was humble, genuine, and showed real care for education and interest in astronomy.
  • I wasn’t 100% sure what to do with my students besides just look at the data with them when they got back, and honestly felt like they were “better” at looking at the data than I was.
  • [student:] I thought astronomy was more about looking and observing the pictures and less about the numbers and math.
  • [student:] I believe with the NITARP program it just made me realize just how much more I want to pursue astronomy later in life or at least throughout high school with more internships. The AAS conference made me see just how many other people share this passion for astronomy and it made me want to continue my research.
  • [student:] This experience changed the way I think about astronomy and astronomers. I used to see astronomy as mainly about observation, but I now realize how much data analysis, collaboration, and problem-solving are involved. NITARP also gave me a deeper appreciation for how structured and resource-driven scientific programs can be, teaching me that science is about both discovering answers and approaching complex problems creatively.

AAS - 2025