• NASA
  • IPAC

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 somewhat intimated at the prospect of working with Caltech scientists however I found my first experience one that eased all my trepidations and instilled excitement for the work I will be doing.
  • [student:] I came to appreciate the fact that there will always be someone smarter than I am, and that's okay because I can learn from them. I also came to appreciate the ability of good public speaking.
  • I did not anticipate the amount of people that were not NITARP but instead simply "fellow" astronomers and researchers that came by our team's poster to discuss our findings. That for me was unanticipated but instead was a most pleasant surprise.[..] It was truly surprising yet very exhilarating as I answered questions and then asked them about their research and how they tackled certain problems.
  • Overall, this experience has been very gratifying and I have learned more about astronomy than I ever thought I would.
  • 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.

AAS - 2012