AAPT Announces the 2011 U.S. Physics Team

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Park, MD, May 5, 2011--Where can you find America’s brightest emerging physicists? They come from California, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. There are four sophomores, seven juniors, and nine seniors. Five of them are returning as second time members of the United States Physics Team. You will find them in College Park, MD, later this month preparing for the next stage of the competition to identify the world’s best high school physics students.

Twenty students from across the U.S. have emerged through a rigorous exam process that began last January with approximately 3,600 students who participated in the Fnet=ma exam to become the 2011 U.S. Physics Team (http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/team.cfm). These students will continue to train for the mentally grueling exams and lab tests they’ll face at the 42nd International Physics Olympiad to be held from July 10 - 18, 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand, where more than 400 student scholars from 90 nations will test their knowledge in physics, competing with the best in the world. 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 2011 U.S. Physics Team are: Lucy Chen, Ames High School, Ames, IA Andrew Das Sarma, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, MD Calvin Deng, William G. Enloe Magnet High School, Raleigh, NC Adam Jermyn, Longmeadow High School, Longmeadow, MA Yota Kato, EPGY Stanford University, Stanford, CA Brian Kong, Milton Academy, Milton, MA Benjamin Li, Arcadia High School, Arcadia, CA Jonathan Li, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, San Juan Capistrano, CA Peter Lu, Illinois Math and Science Academy, Aurora, IL Ante Qu, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, NJ Eric Schneider, High Technology High School, Lincroft, NJ Sadik Shahidain, Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ Bobby Shen, Dulles High School, Sugar Land, TX Utsarga Sikder, South Brunswick High School, Monmouth Junction, NJ Eric Spieglan, Naperville North High School, Naperville, IL Albert Wu, The Harker School, San Jose, CA May Yang, Libertyville High School, Libertyville, IL Ryan Yoo, Homeschool, Los Angeles, CA Brian Zhang, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA Andrew Zhao, Webster Thomas High School, Webster, NY

‘The competition for a position on the U.S. Physics Team is intense and each student who participated in the 2011 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 Bangkok for the international competition.

The coaches for the 2011 U.S. Physics team are: Paul Stanley, Academic Director/Senior Coach, Warren Turner, Senior Coach/Lab Coach, Andrew Lin, Jia Jia Dong, Qui Zi Li, and David Fallest.

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

LIST OF EVENTS: May 20 -- 2011 Physics Team members arrive at the University of Maryland for their intensive training camp May 23 -- Welcome Reception at the University of Maryland May 25 -- Congressional Visits May 31 -- Five students will be chosen to represent the U.S. Physics Team at the international competition July 10-18 -- The International Physics Olympiad in Bangkok, Thailand July 17 -- Closing Ceremony

MORE ON THE WEB Main website of the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2011 History of the physics team, including past winners: http://www.aapt.org/Contests/olympiad.cfm 42nd International Physics Olympiad: http://www.ipho2011.org/index.php

About AAPT AAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and physical scientists--with more than 10,000 members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT is responsible for recruiting, selecting and training teams each year to compete in the International Physics Olympiad Competition. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.

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