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AAS - 2012

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 2011 and 2012 NITARP teams attended the 2012 January AAS meeting in Austin, TX. The 2011 class was presenting results and the 2012 class was starting up. We sent about 60 people to the AAS (the largest delegation to date) and had a grand time. Please see the special article on NITARP at the AAS. We also got a smattering of coverage in local media outlets.

Quotes

  • I was bombarded with a lot of information in a short period of time. I had no idea there was so much research going on in Astronomy. Astronomers are very eager to explain their research and future goals. A very friendly bunch.
  • During this meeting, I really got to see science up close. Everyone here was on the [outer edges] of astronomy, carving the path for humans in space. I saw how science was conducted and because I took part in this conference and contributed to the new information gathered, I feel like I am a part of something more.
  • What I am in awe about is that this relatively small community of scientists, engineers, programmers, and educators has developed and built this incredible astronomical research infrastructure.
  • I'm happy to say that at my third AAS, I am developing the ability to absorb more information and have a greater understanding of the work that is presented.
  • I assumed that [this project] would require a great deal of data analysis, what I didn't grasp until after this meeting was how focused and detailed the analysis would be. The steps in understanding that are gained through the analysis are much smaller than I anticipated they would be for the amount of work that is done.

Related Teams

AAS - 2012