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Summer Visit - 2012 - HR4AGN

The summer visit to Caltech is 3-4 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 HR4AGN team came to visit in August 2012. The core team educators attended, plus 12 students, and one additional scientist.  The scientist mentor is Dr. Varoujan Gorjian. IPAC staff member Jacob Llamas (SSC) assisted, as did Dr. Jean-Christophe Mauduit (SSC).

Quotes

  • [student:] The most surprising thing I learned was that Astronomers do not have to individually process all of the data they are interested in from raw data. I was unaware of the existence and availability of the various databases that exist.
  • [student:] This program really showed me that astronomy is not as much of a hands on science, which I have discovered I prefer. I still am quite interested in the field of astronomy, but I have realized that I would be more suited to possibly become a chemist because it is much more lab based.
  • Before this experience, I thought astronomy [was] all about stars. Now, I believe, astronomy is about many things... Galaxies, stars, math...
  • The best thing about the trip for me was watching how much my students' learning had evolved over time. So much of what we have done so far had a really steep learning curve, and it was really great to see them communicate the details of our project at the end of the Caltech visit.
  • The passion astronomers have toward the subject is contagious.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2012 - HR4AGN