Students qualify to take physics olympiad with strong F=ma results

by Arya Maheshwari, STEM Editor

Nine students will proceed in the physics olympiad examinations after qualifying for the USA Physics Olympiad (USAPhO) based on high scores in the preliminary F=ma exam, which numerous upper and middle school students took in late January.

Qualifying students include juniors Rohan Cherukuri, Jeffrey Kwan and Joshua Zhou; sophomores Betsy Tian and Daniel Wang; freshmen David Dai, Alex Hu (11) and Rishab Parthasarathy; and eighth grader Connie Jiang. The cutoff for the F=ma A exam, which was administered by Dr. Eric Nelson in the Nichols Auditorium on Jan. 23, was a score of 16 questions correct out of the 25-question, 75-minute exam. 

The nine students will tackle the final USA Physics Olympiads (USAPhO) exam on April 2, and the top 20 nationally will be eligible at the end of May to attend the prestigious U.S. Physics Team Training Camp sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) at the University of Maryland.