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(withdrawn) 122.01 (Mon 10-10:10) Garcia et al., "Toward Automated Identification of YSOs in Sharpless Regions Using Infrared and Halpha Excess"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

The amount of work that we got done in such a small amount of time was extremely impressive and I would not have been able to do it without my team. We also divided and conquered a lot of the work in terms of preparing our poster writing our proposal and submitting our abstracts for the meeting. This task would have been incredibly difficult to do had it not been for the efforts of everyone on my team.
I was blown away with the welcoming community of researchers that were a part of the NITARP and AAS community, and how open everyone was in educating others in a positive and humble way.
I've already introduced a new research project in my astronomy class using IRSA last spring, and I'm working on refining it for inclusion in the astronomy class I am currently teaching. After doing the Rubin "Coloring the Universe" activity, students get a tutorial on IRSA, and have to come up with their own questions that they would be able to possibly answer by generating images using IRSA.
[My] conversation with my team felt surreal because it totally went above and beyond my expectations for what I thought my first meeting would be like. I think it surprised me how dedicated the experts were and how open they were to having these casual conversations with us -- and how they seem to genuinely enjoy giving us their time and attention.
This helped me feel like I was involved in something that went beyond just my campus and tiny little world. This experience has made me more confident to try for challenges outside my comfort zone and look for opportunities to contribute to the greater educational community.

AAS - 2025

Quotes

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