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:

159.08 (Mon 5:30-6:30pm) Forester et al. "Investigating Anomalies in Astrometry of AGNs in Gaia Data" (iPoster)
168.03 (Mon 5:30-6:30pm), Perry et al. "NITARP Benefits for High School Level and Introductory College Level Astronomy Classes" (iPoster)
205.02 (Tues 9-10am) Andreas et al., "Imposter Syndrome in Early-Stage STEM Students" (iPoster)
205.05 (Tues 9-10am) Mason et al. "Teacher Research Experiences and Its Deep Impact on Education" (iPoster)
357.02 (Wed 5:30-6:30pm) Benter et al. "Searching for YSOs in Cassiopeia using a Multiband Approach" (iPoster)

Alumni:

106.04 (Mon 9-10am) Gogliettino et al. "Looking for a More Accurate Luminosity Indicator for Quasars" (iPoster)
(withdrawn) 122.01 (Mon 10-10:10) Garcia et al., "Toward Automated Identification of YSOs in Sharpless Regions Using Infrared and Halpha Excess"
160.15 (Mon 5:30-6:30pm) Jones et al. "Advancing Exoplanet Research with Small Instruments: Transit Photometry Using a 60mm Telescope"
161.10 (Mon 5:30-6:30pm) Strasburger et al. "Optical to IR Reverberation Mapping of AGN Using Refined NEOWISE Photometry" (iPoster)
168.08 (Mon 5:30-6:30pm) Sperling et al. "The Impact of Secondary and Higher Education Partnerships through High-Altitude Ballooning-Based Research Experiences" (iPoster)
205.03 (Tues 9-10am) Newland et al. "Bridging Research and the Classroom: Leveraging Multi-Wavelength Data for SED Plots of Young Stellar Objects Using Google Colab" (iPoster)
205.08 (Tues 9-10 am) Schwarz et al. "Reach for the Stars: Authentic Astronomical Research in Middle School" (iPoster)
208.02 (Tues 9-10am) Sperling et al. "High-Altitude Ballooning for Muon Detection: Preliminary Testing for an International Research Collaboration" (iPoster)
304.03 (Wed 9-10 am) Ciambra et al. "Curricula for Educators to Access Authentic Data and Scientific Research Experiences" (iPoster)
304.05 (Wed 9-10am) Rebull et al. "NITARP, the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program" (iPoster)

Quotes

This experience turned out to be more work than I thought it was going to be but it was a welcome challenge and I was so surprised of the amount of work that we accomplished and the new understandings that I was able to conceptualize.
This experience absolutely changed the way I perceived astronomy & astronomers. Learning about the research process was an eye-opening experience. Knowing where to find readily available data [...] was impactful. Astronomers are the nicest, funniest and most inclusive community.
[My] most memorable moment [...] was having breakfast with my NITARP team and discussing our project. In particular, it felt surreal to ask Varoujan simple questions about black holes & then learn so much about the fundamentals of how gravity works & the properties of the electromagnetic field. I teach astronomy & felt like I had a pretty good grasp of these concepts. However, I realized that when I follow my knowledge down to a very fundamental level, my understanding becomes shakier & shakier. I'll definitely keep asking these basic questions while I have him as a resource!
I was surprised to learn how user-friendly accessing data from the archives actually is, and I previously knew very little about IPAC specifically aside from the general knowledge that all the digital images are saved *somewhere* for potential future research.
Going to the conference and being in the NITARP program has definitely shown me that there are a lot of directions I can go beyond teaching. I also will be on the lookout for more opportunities that provide authentic research experiences for teachers because I feel like it brings so much to the classroom and reignites my passion for education.

AAS - 2025

Quotes

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