COLLEGE PARK, MD (April 28, 2003) - What do you do once you've won a $100,000 science scholarship competition and gained entrance to Harvard University - you join the United States Physics Team, of course! That's what Steven Byrnes, a senior at Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, will be doing this May. Steven will be joining 23 other stellar high school students from around the country as they compete in the 17th Annual United States Physics Olympiad sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
Steven will arrive with his teammates at the University of Maryland in College Park on May 18th to begin a week-long physics 'boot camp.' At camp, students vie for a place on the U.S. Olympiad Traveling Team, which will compete this year in the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) being held in Taipei, Taiwan in July.
The 24 members of the US Physics Team were selected from a pool of more than 1400 students who were nominated by their high school physics teachers to take the Olympiad physics exams. "These students are inspiring," says Dr. Bernard Khoury, Executive Officer of the AAPT. "Each year I am more amazed at what these teenagers have already accomplished, and what I know they will accomplish in the future." Dr. Khoury has reason to be impressed: this US Physics Team boasts a published poet, a budding politician, and a student who speaks 6 languages fluently and taught himself physics from course material found on MIT websites when he was just 10 years old. This is in addition to the scholarships, academic awards and other medals and honors each of the students has already won.
More Quick Facts About The 2003 Olympiad Team and Physics 'Boot Camp':
The 24 students hail from 14 different states
Two of the students are home-schooled
10 students are returning from previous years (8 from 2002, 2 from 2001)
5 girls are members of the team this year
During the week-long physics training camp the students will conduct lab experiments, take exams and attend lectures by prominent scientists
5 students plus an alternate will be selected for the U.S. Olympiad Traveling Team
Schedule of Olympiad Events:
May 18th - U.S. Olympiad Team members arrive at the University of Maryland
May 20th - Capitol Hill Reception (6pm-8pm, Rm B340 Rayburn) hosted by Congressmen Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) and Rush Holt (D-NJ), who are both physicists by training.
Students will have the chance to meet their congressional representatives
Dr. Norm Neureiter, Science & Technology Adviser to the Secretary, U.S. Department of State will speak to the team members
Keynote speaker
Event is co-sponsored by AAPT, AIP, and the NASA Office of Space Science
May 25th - Traveling team announced
July 12th-21st - International Physics Olympiad in Taipei, Taiwan
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Websites:
US Physics Team (including pictures and biographies): http://www.aapt.org/olympiad2003/
International Olympiad Homepage: http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ipho2003/
For more information, to schedule interviews or request photographs contact:
James Riordon, American Institute of Physics, 301-209-2084, jriordon@aip.org
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