2 Stamford Students Work With NASA On Astronomy Research

STAMFORD, CT — While many students were enjoying a relaxing summer break, two Stamford teens spent their time off working with NASA. Anna Lichtenberg and Kevin Fleischer, both students at the Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering (AITE), were among 13 NASA-sponsored high school students selected to participate in astronomical research at the California Institute of Technology this summer.

Along with AITE teacher Vin Urbanowski, both Lichtenberg and Fleischer were able to get hands-on experience working alongside actual Caltech astronomers.

The program is part of the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program, run by Caltech astronomers Luisa Rebull and Varoujan Gorjian, according to a statement from Stamford Public Schools.

"This is an authentic science experience for students," Urbanowski said in a statement. "Instead of doing a known procedure to confirm a known result, we developed our own methods in collaboration with Dr. Gorjian, to discover new results."

Urbanowski is also this year's teacher-mentor for the NITARP "Dust Mights" team.

Each year, the NITARP team selects six STEM educators from across the country to participate in original research, using data from professional astronomical databases comprised of observations from space-based telescopes. The program is offered at no cost to teachers or students.

The team, comprised of teachers from Connecticut, Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana, has been collaborating online since the beginning of the year.

In addition to participating in the program, Lichtenberg and Fleischer will also have the opportunity to present their results at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) annual winter conference in Hawaii, which will be held in January.

"The NITARP program seems like an incredible opportunity to learn about some of the most exciting developments in the field at one of the most famous science research institutions in the world," Lichtenberg said in a statement. "I look forward to interacting with and learning from an incredible group of fellow students and teachers."

The students and Urbanowski, along with their counterparts from around the country, flew to California this summer to meet Rebull and Gorjian at Caltech, where they began their work. The students and teachers participated in astrophysics, astronomy and astronomical data analysis, and also established objectives and processes.

Their research, which will continue through online conferencing and cloud-based data sharing, is set to be completed next year. The AITE team will reunite with their colleagues and present their results at the 235th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January.

"The idea of working with people from across the country to accomplish this one, greater goal is enticing to me," Fleischer said in a release. "Along this journey I look forward to meeting many new people to 'nerd-out' with, and together experience the wonders of exploring the universe though math."

AITE principal Tina Rivera said she was excited that two of her students were able to take part in such a unique experience.

"We are all over the moon (pun intended) that Anna and Kevin have this rare opportunity to participate in astronomical research with Caltech professors and a small group of selected students and educators and present their results at a national conference in January 2020," Rivera said in an email to Patch.

She also said this opportunity would not have been possible without Urbanowski, the school's former "Teacher of the Year," who applied for the extremely competitive program.

"As a STEM focused magnet school this is authentic learning at its best," Rivera said. "We are so proud of Anna and Kevin and know that they will take full advantage of this opportunity."