Dear AAPT Members, Colleagues, and Friends,

The suspense ended at the reception on May 27, when Co-Academic Directors Paul Stanley and Robert Shurtz announced which five students will represent the United States at IPhO, the International Physics Olympiad competition in Hanoi, Vietnam, July 20 - 29. The five, plus an alternate, were chosen from the twenty-four US Physics Team members at the AAPT-run training camp on the University of Maryland campus.

For ten days all twenty-four had immersed themselves in physics. We shared their delight in the subject. We were impressed by their diverse approaches to problem-solving. We enjoyed the fun they cooked up.

The reception on the last day of camp honored the Physics Team members and their coaches. Proud families and teachers looked on, along with officers of the American Institute of Physics and representatives from some of the ten AIP member societies that sponsor the team.

After dinner the kids hung around to say their goodbyes and write farewell messages in each others’ souvenir books. This was a special group, and the souvenir book was special too: Feynman’s Lectures on Physics.

About the Program Mission

The U.S. Physics Team Program promotes and demonstrates academic excellence by preparing outstanding students to participate in the International Physics Olympiad. The U.S. Physics Team fulfills its mission by:

• expanding awareness of and participation in the program
• providing a meaningful scientific and cultural experience for team members, including opportunities to network and meet new people
• learning in intellectual and experiential ways; and
• gaining international exposure

 History

The Physics Olympiads began in 1967 with the first competition in Warsaw, Poland. Initially only Eastern European nations competed, but in the early 1980's, western countries began to participate, first through Germany, then the U.K., U.S.A. and Canada. The IPhOs now attract teams from all over the globe.

In 1986, AAPT and AIP organized, for the first time, the United States Physics Team. The team consisted of 20 talented high school physics students who had been nominated by their teachers. Following a rigorous and intense program in the physics department of the University of Maryland, five students were selected to represent the U.S. Team in London. The United States team brought home three Bronze Medals--the most medals any team had ever won in their first competition. Since that time, the United States team has consistently ranked near the top ten of all nations.

Selection Process

This year more than 2,000 students took the preliminary exam. From this group about 400 students were selected to take the quarter finalist exam, and about half of them successfully advanced to the semifinal exams.

It was from this semifinalist group that the 24 team members were selected for the US Physics Team. They attended training camp at the College Park campus of the University of Maryland, where they engaged in intense study, testing and problem solving.

At the end of training camp, five students, plus an alternate, were selected as the Traveling Team that would go on to represent the United States at the Physics Olympiad in Hanoi.

The Traveling Team will meet again at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona for an extra three days of intense laboratory work before the international event.

The training camp experience is immensely valuable for the participants. The instruction provides an introduction to university-style teaching and equipment. Students become familiar with aspects of first year university curricula in physics; that process in turn accelerates their studies during their remaining time in high school.

Left to Right: Andy Lucas (alternate), Danny Zhu,
Joshua Oreman, Edward Gan, Tucker Chan, Rui Hu