2016 U.S. Physics Team Announced by AAPT 

Contact: Dave Wolfe, Director of Communications
E-mail: dwolfe@aapt.org
Phone: (301) 209-3327
www.aapt.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Park, MD, May 15, 2016—After a rigorous search involving two exams, the American Association of Physics Teachers has identified the top contenders as members of the United States Physics Team. They come from California, Florida, Indiana, Illinois Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas, They attend public schools, charter schools, online schools and home schools.. There are high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

Later this month these bright emerging physicists will participate in Physics Boot Camp at the University of Maryland in College Park. 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. Six of them are returning as second time members of the United States Physics Team.

The twenty members of the 2016 U.S. Physics Team will prepare for the mentally grueling exams and lab tests they'll face at the 47th International Physics Olympiad to be held  July 10 –18, 2016 in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.  At the end of Camp, the coaches will identify the five students who will travel to the 47th International Physics Olympiad and represent the United States. 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 2016 U.S. Physics Team are:

Shreyas Balaji, John Foster Dulles High School, Sugarland, Texas

Mike Bao, Troy High School, Fullerton, CA

Jonathan Huang, University HS - Irvine, Irvine, CA

Tiffany Huang, Saratoga High School, Saratoga, CA

Parker Huntington, Centerville High School, Centerville, OH

Abijith Krishnan, BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizonia

Cynthia Liu, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, MD

Vincent Liu, State College Area High School, State College, Pennslyvania

Daniel Longenecker, Homeschool/Kuwait, Rising Sun, MD

Jason Lu, Adai Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois

Jawahar Madan, Interlake High School, Bellevue, WA

Srijon Mukherjee, Amity International School, Noida, India

Jimmy Qin, Seminole High School, Sanford, Florida

Milan Roberson, Bayard Rustin High School, West Chester, PA

Alec Sun, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH

Brian Tseng, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, CA

Yogeshwar Velingker, Parkland School District, Allentown, PA

Charles Wang, Thomas Jefferson High School for Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA

Sarah Wu, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC

Jason Ye, University High School - Irvine, Irvine, CA

Jennifer Yu, Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, CA

Leo Zhao, Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ

Daniel Zhu, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, MD

"The competition for a position on the U.S. Physics Team is intense and each student who participated in the 2016 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. 

The leaders of the 2016 U.S. Physics team are: Paul Stanley, Academic Director; David Fallest, Senior Coach; Eugen Hruska and Mikhail Kagan, Coaches; and Chrisy Xiyu Du, Mark Eichenlaub and Kevin Zhou, Junior Coaches.

Funding and Sponsorship
The U.S. Physics Olympiad Program was started in 1986 by AAPT to promote and demonstrate academic excellence. It continues to be supported as a joint initiative between AAPT, AIP, 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
Wiley
Macmillan Higher Education
Pearson Education
Ansatz

Funding for the U.S. Physics Team also depends on donations from concerned individuals and organizations. Contributions are entirely used to support the selection, training, and travel of the team. Donations to the U.S. Physics Team are accepted at www.aapt.org/physicsteam/donate.cfm.

MORE ON THE WEB
Main website of the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2016/

History of the physics team, including past winners: http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2016/program.cfm

47th International Physics Olympiad: http://www.ipho2016.org/

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 at College Park, Maryland.