Newswise — Top physics students in the country met yesterday with the three members of Congress who are physicists.
The students are in the nation's capital for the U.S. Physics Team's training camp. For ten days the 24-member team studies advanced physics principles, takes exams and hears lectures from prominent physicists at the University of Maryland in College Park. Five students from the U.S. team will be chosen to represent the U.S. at an international physics competition.
But the time at camp is not only spent on physics: the students also visited the nation's capital to meet with their senators and representatives. This helps them learn to communicate important science to legislators and others who don't usually hear about science. The in-person meeting helps remind members of Congress of the importance of science and math education in the U.S.
The students met with Bill Foster, (IL-14th) a particle physicist; Rep. Vern Ehlers (MI-3rd) a nuclear physicist; and Rep. Rush Holt, a plasma-energy physicist (NJ-12th).
The U.S. Physics Olympiad Program was started in 1986 by the American Association of Physics Teachers to promote and demonstrate academic excellence. The training camp is sponsored by the AAPT and the American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD.
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"¢ Main website of the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.aapt.org/olympiad2007/ "¢ Bios of each student are available online at: http://www.aapt.org/olympiad2007/team.cfm "¢ History of the physics team, including past winners, is available at: http://www.aapt.org/Contests/olympiad.cfm "¢ Screening exams the students had to pass to place on the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.compadre.org/psrc/evals/olympiad.cfm
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