USIYPT results 2017 from University of the Sciences, Philadelphia

The 2017 United States Invitational Young Physicists Tournament was held last weekend, January 28-29, at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.  I can't thank the hosts enough -- Elia Eschenazi, Michele Albert, and the rest of the folks from USciences who helped out were most hospitable and supportive.

Congratulations to all, but in particular, to Rye Country Day School (pictured) and coach Mary Krasovec.  They won their second title behind a particularly strong presentation of their experimental measurement of Planck's constant.  

The final round scores and places, noting that by tradition the finalist teams share first through fourth place:

Rye Country Day School , NY         77 points, champions

RDFZ of Beijing*                             72, 2nd place

Phillips Exeter Academy, NH          71, 3rd place

The Harker School, CA                    70, 3rd place

Qingdao No. 2 High School**          68, 3rd place

Woodberry Forest School, VA          56, 4th place

* Officially The High School Affiliated with Renmin University, China; known also as RDFZ.

** First-time participants from northern China

The Clifford Swartz Trophy is awarded annually to the winner of the USIYPT poster session.  First-time participant Vanke Meisha Academy won this prize.

And this year, the US Association for Young Physicists Tournaments for the first time presented the Bibilashvili Medals for excellence in physics.  These are awarded not based on ranking among the schools, but on overall score regardless of place.  This year, in addition to the trophy winners and final round participants, Pioneer School of Ariana, Tunisia earned a Bibilashvili medal.

This was the largest tournament in the ten year history of the event, with thirteen schools participating, including:

Shenzhen Middle School, China

Phoenixville Area High School, PA

Cary Academy, NC

Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, NJ

Nanjing Foreign Language School, China

What about 2018?

The 2018 USIYPT will be held on January 27-28 at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA.  The four problems involve measurements of the moon's orbit, coupled mechanical oscillators, projectiles in air, and radiation from incandescent light bulbs.  Full problem descriptions are shown at the USAYPT problem master's blog. 

If you'd like to know more about the USIYPT -- a physics research/debate tournament for high schools all over America and the world -- please contact me via email.  We're particularly interested in recruiting physics teachers, professors, graduate students, and industry physicists as jurors.  

GCJ