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Daily Team Updates

Sunday, July 16, 2006

College Park, MD (July 16, 2006) - Every U.S. student sent to the 2006 International Physics Olympiad held this year in Nanyang University in Singapore, will bring home a medal, and four of those are gold.

Menyoung Lee, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA won a gold medal for the second year in a row.

The other gold medalists are: William Throwe, a senior at Shoreham-Wading River High School, Shoreham, NY. Last year Throwe served as an alternate to the team. Henry Tung, a junior at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego. Otis A Chodosh, a senior at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics in Oklahoma City.

Bringing home a silver medal: Sherry Gong, a junior at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH.

“The US team met with great success,” head coach Robert Shurtz said. “In an unofficial ranking of countries based on total score of the five team members, the US ranked second.” China’s students had the highest overall total scores.” This was largest International Physics Olympiad to date with 86 nations participating with a total of 383 competitors. Last year, the team brought home two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal. He also noted that the traveling team met on June 30th at Cal Poly - Pomona for four days of laboratory work as the final step in preparing for the international competition. We were all grateful to be hosted once again by Mary Mogge, former academic director of the US Physics Team and chair of the physics department at Cal Poly. We had a very successful and enjoyable mini-camp as a result of the hospitality and helpfulness of Mary and the staff of the physics department. We flew on July 4th for Singapore. We had two days to adjust to the twelve hour time difference and explore Singapore before the competition officially began on July 8th. This was a very hard working and a very fun group of five students to work with. I'm extremely excited and proud of their accomplishments. Four golds and one silver and second place overall makes this one of the best showings of the US Physics Team at any IPhO. I'll greatly miss working with this talented, cohesive, dedicated, and humorous group of students.



Monday, May 29, 2006

Today is the day...the day the students found out which of them would be selected to represent the U.S. at the international Competition in Singapore. However, before the big announcement they first traveled to the American Center for Physics were they sat for their last exam. Afterwards they wrote up evaluations of their week in College Park, followed by class discussion of previous exams and labs, then on to lunch.

Before the announcement of the traveling team, the students played games and watched movies. At 3:40pm the coaches gathered the group together to award certificates and announce the 5 member traveling team that would go to Singapore to compete in the 37th international Olympiad. And they are: Sherry, Gong, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH, Otis Chodosh, Oklahoma School of Sci & Math, Oklahoma City, OK Men Young Lee, Thomas Jefferson HSST, Alexandria,VA William Throwe, Shoreham Wading River, Shoreham, NY HenryTung Torrey Pines High School,Encinitas, CA And the alternate is Ingmar Saberi

This group will meet again on June 30 for as fast- paced mini camp at the Physics Dept at Cal Poly. Mary Mogge Chair of the Physics Dept and former Physics Team Academics Director will oversee the group. On July 4th the group including coaches Bob Shurtz & Paul Stanley will begin their trip to Singapore for the international Physics Olympiad Competition. They will compete against 81 other countries.



Sunday, May 28, 2006

Today is the day...the day the students found out which of them would be selected to represent the U.S. at the international Competition in Singapore. However, before the big announcement they first traveled to the American Center for Physics were they sat for their last exam. Afterwards they wrote up evaluations of their week in College Park, followed by class discussion of previous exams and labs, then on to lunch



Saturday, May 27, 2006

The day began with their 6th exam, then on to class discussion and group problems.



Friday, May 26, 2006

Today the students were fortunate to hear from frontier speaker Sylvester James Gates who spoke on the mathematical and theoretical physics of supersymmetric particles, fields and strings. Jim is a professor of physics at University of Maryland. After lunch the students relaxed a bit before going back to class for a five hour exam.



Thursday, May 25, 2006

At 8:00 am the team boarded a bus for DC to Capitol Hill for the opportunity to meet their state senators and representatives. They were also greeted by Congressmen Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) and Rush Holt (D-NJ), who are both physicists. After the visit team went to the Smithsonian Air Space to hear a special lecture on the planet Mars. After that, they went to the IMAX to see Roving Mars. By 5:00 pm they headed back to UM for dinner. Later that evening the students took a Physics IQ Test, from experiments demonstrated by Dr. Richard Berg, a well renowned international Physics Professor at the University of Maryland. This fun-filled session is always a favorite of the students. Dr. Berg has also been a regular Frontier Speaker and supporter of the Team since ‘86.



Wednesday, May 24, 2006

The U.S. Physics Team had a special guest during lunch today. They were joined by Society of Physics Students' Director Gary White in exploring the physics of spandex. White explained that by hanging a heavy weight from the center of a sheet of stretched spandex, an interesting potential well is formed. Almost no one could resist the temptation to roll marbles across the surface and examine the resulting orbits. White also touched on several other questions that he has explored with his students, such as the mathematical form for the curved surface, and modeling tidal effects and the formation of the solar system using the spandex. Afterwards, the team members and coaches were provided with gifts from the American Institute of Physics, which included rainbow light pens and spectral glasses.



Tuesday, May 23, 2006

UM - John Toll Lounge - A welcome luncheon was given at the University of Maryland in honor of the 24 Member Team. First they heard from Frontier Speaker, Jordan Goodman, Chair of the Univ. of Maryland Physics Department, who talked to them about his research. Goodman has spoken to the U.S. Physics Team each year the United States has sponsored a team. He has been a staunch supporter and cares deeply about young students and their interest in science. The welcoming luncheon followed at noon. The team took that time to break from their grueling schedule and relax and pose for the Team photos with their newly acquired Physics Team T-Shirts



Monday, May 22, 2006

Today the students were introduced to Electrical Measurements. By the end of the day the students will have taken 3 exams.



Sunday, May 21, 2006

Only two days into camp and they’ve already had two labs and two exams.



Saturday, May 20, 2006

Today was the students first day in camp, It was also the day of their first exam…



Friday, May 19, 2006

College Park, MD (May 19, 2006) – For the 20th year, twenty-four high-school physics students from across the country have descended upon our nation’s capital, as part of the 2006 United States Physics Team. After being nominated by their high-school physics teachers, more than twelve-hundred students took a series of rigorous physics exams, hoping to be chosen for the 2006 team. They came by plane, train and cars. There was excitement in the air as they introduced themselves. Some had already formed a friendship while traveling together on the plane and train. By 7:30PM they'd checked into their hotel rooms and were ready for dinner. After dinner there was orientation where the team members were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and state what they planned to be doing in the next five years. They also received books donated by ..... and a TI84 Plus calculator from Texas Instruments. Needless to say, this group of students will make great contributions to society.