AAS - 2026

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 2025 and 2026 NITARP teams are attending the 2026 January AAS meeting in Phoenix, AZ. The 2025 class is presenting results and the 2026 all-volunteer self-funded alumni class is starting up. We sent about 35 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 2025 teams' posters were up at the IPAC booth all day Tuesday.)

2025 teams:

220.01 Edwards et al., “Stellar Rotation Within the Beta Pictoris Moving Group Using TESS Lightcurves”
403.01 Molohon et al., “Student and Teachers as Scientists: The Impact of Authentic Astronomy Research Experiences”
403.05 Pfahler et al., “From NITARP Experience to Community Practice”
406.04 Cullen et al., “Using Spitzer Space Telescope data to catalog short-term variable AGN for determining the size of accretion disks”

Alumni

104.08 Sperling et al., "Evaluating Educational Outcomes of the HERA Secondary–Higher Education High-Altitude Ballooning Research Program Across Pilot Sites"
136.08 Cohen & Sperling, "METEOR: A Low-Cost, APRS-Based Flight Computer for High-Altitude Balloon Missions"
217.04 Schwarz et al., “Star Finders: Assembling a Multi-Wavelength Catalog of Young Stellar Objects in Serpens Main”
403.02 Kuper et al., “From young stars to active galaxies: Development of foundational lessons for authentic astronomy research”
403.04 Newland et al., “Photometric Catalog Integration in a Python Framework for Spectral Energy Distribution Construction and Young Stellar Object Classification” - possibly better formatted version here
403.06 Bechtel, “NITARP Influences Multiple Generations, Communities, and Careers”
403.07 Blackwell et al., “Stellar Life Cycles: Improved Methods of Education”

Quotes

I hope my next educational development experience can live up to NITARP. Most are condensed experiences that train in doing classroom curriculum or re-creating the research of others, but I really enjoyed doing research that was meant to be shared and presented at a conference.
Experiences such as NITARP have proven to change student and teacher lives in impressive ways. The longer format of the program provides meaningful and impactful experiences that influence skill development far beyond the specific research subject area. Students that experience the program see the world and their place in it differently. They are empowered and feel capable of deep participation and involvement. Teachers shift their entire mindset on how they teach, what impacts students, and what they can do to improve the real-world experience and skill development of those in their classrooms. They seek greater information, more effective partnerships and collaboration, and actively engage students in ways that embrace true learning.
NITARP is one of the greatest joys in the arch of my professional and personal life... It is absolutely amazing!
[this experience] didn't really change the way that I think about astronomers, but I was given a front row seat and participatory role in learning how creative astronomers have to be. I really think the indirect way many things in the cosmos have to be studied is very cool and exceptionally creative. It actually more so changed the way that I feel about myself. I now see myself as someone who is capable of doing important research even if I don't have a PhD in astronomy. I also feel like I have some support in [..] our mentors and team members if I wanted to try out my own research project.
[student:] I feel like this experience improved my ability to work with peers.

AAS - 2026

Quotes

Related Teams