AAPT Announces the 2015 U.S. Physics Team

Contact:
Marilyn Gardner, Director of Communications
E-mail: mgardner@aapt.org
Phone: (301) 209-3306
www.aapt.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

College Park, MD, May 8, 2015—This spring you can find America's brightest emerging physicists at Physics Boot Camp. They come from Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. There are high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Two of them are returning as second time members of the United States Physics Team.

They will arrive in College Park, later this month to prepare for the next stage of the competition that will identify the world's best high school physics students.The twenty students have emerged, through a rigorous exam process that began last January with approximately 4,300 students who participated in the Fnet=ma exam, to become the 2015 US Physics Team. 

These students will continue to train for the mentally grueling exams and lab tests they'll face at the 46th International Physics Olympiad to be held from July 4 –13, 2015 in Mumbai, India, where student scholars from nations around the globe will test their knowledge in physics, competing with the world's best. Over the past ten years, every U.S. Physics Team member traveling to the international competition has returned with a medal.

The members of the 2015 U.S. Physics Team are:
Shankar N. Balasubramanian, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
Zachary A. Bogorad, Solon High School, Solon, Ohio
Adam R. Busis, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland
Kevin Chen, The Bishop's School, La Jolla, California
Allen Y. Cheng, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
Hannah M. Field, EPGY Stanford University, Bronx, New York
Ben Hannel, Westlake High School, Thousand Oaks, California
Rohan S. Kodialam, High Technology High School, Lincroft, New Jersey
Abijith Krishnan, BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona
Kevin Q. Li, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, New Jersey
Celine K. Liang, Saratoga High School, Saratoga, California
Allen Liu, Penfield High School, Penfield, New York
Jason D. Lu, Adlai Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois
Jonathan Ma, The Harker School, San Jose, California
Advait Parulekar, Westwood High School, Austin, Texas
Saranesh Prembabu, Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon, California
Videh Seksaria, Lexington High School, Lexington, Massachusetts
Brian C. Tseng, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, California
Charles Wang, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Vienna, Virginia
Brian B. Xie, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, California

"The competition for a position on the U.S. Physics Team is intense and each student who participated in the 2015 selection process is deserving of recognition. They are the future of America's success in physics related fields. AAPT is honored to recognize the exceptional scholars who qualified for the team and to support their further participation in the International Physics Olympiad," said Dr. Beth A. Cunningham, Executive Officer of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

An integral part of the U.S. Physics Team experience is the training camp. Most of the students invited to the camp are the top science student in their high school. For many, it is their first chance to meet other students who are truly their peers. The training camp is a crash course in the first two years of university physics. Students learn at a very fast pace. They have an opportunity to hear about cutting edge research from some of the community's leading physicists. At the end of the training camp, five students will be selected to travel to Mumbai for the international competition.

The coaches for the 2015 U.S. Physics team are: Paul Stanley, Academic Director; David Fallest, Senior Coach; JiaJia Dong and Mikhail Kagan, Coaches; and Jeffrey Yan and Kevin Zhou, Junior Coaches.

The U.S. Physics Team is sponsored by the generous support of private donors, the American Institute for Physics and the member societies of the American Institute of Physics:
Acoustical Society of America
American Association of Physicists in Medicine
American Association of Physics Teachers
American Astronomical Society
American Crystallographic Association
American Meteorological Society
American Institute for Physics
American Physical Society
AVS: Science &Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing
Optical Society of America
The Society of Rheology

Hosting Universities
George Washington University
University of Maryland

Corporate Sponsors:
Anonymous
Beloit College
Cambridge University Press
D.E.Shaw Group & Company
Ellington Management Group
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Macmillan Higher Education
Pearson Education

LIST OF EVENTS:
May 17 —2015 Physics Team members arrive at the University of Maryland for their intensive training camp
May 18 —Welcome Reception at the University of Maryland
May 21 —Congressional Visits
May 28 —Five students will be chosen to represent the U.S. Physics Team at the international competition
July 5-12 —International Physics Olympiad in Mumbai, India
July 12 —Closing Ceremony

MORE ON THE WEB 

Main website of the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2015/
History of the physics team, including past winners: http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2015/program.cfm
46th International Physics Olympiad: http://www.ipho2015.in/

ABOUT AAPT

AAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists—with members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT provides awards, publications, and programs that encourage teaching practical application of physics principles, support continuing professional development, and reward excellence in physics education. Founded in 1930, the Association is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.