MHS Students are Semifinalists for U.S. Physics Team

From the Millburn Township School District Public Information Office

Millburn High School seniors, William Krinsman and Henry Meng, and junior Jeffrey Lai have been named semifinalists in the 2012 U.S. Physics Team competition.

Meng, Krnisman and Lai must take a semi-final exam this month to qualify to compete for the chance to represent the United States at the International Physics Olympiad Competition in Estonia this summer. They are all students of Millburn High School Physics teacher Robert Barkovitz. This is the second year that Meng has qualified for the semifinals.

The American Association of Physics Teachers announced that these three students are among the top 300 scorers out of approximately 3,000 students nationwide who took the F=ma Exam, in January. They will take a second exam this month, which is used as the basis for selection of the 20 members of the U.S. Physics Team.

The 20 students who make the team will travel to the University of Maryland-College Park at the end of May for the annual U.S. Physics Team Training Camp. There they engage in ten days of intense studying, testing and problem solving. At the end of that training camp, five students will be selected for the "Traveling Team." The Traveling Team will return for three additional days of intense laboratory work before they are ready for the International Physics Olympiad (IPHO), a nine-day competition among pre-university students from more than 80 nations. The 2012 Olympiad will be held in Estonia in July.

From 1986 to 2010, the United States Teams have brought home:

• 43 Gold Medals
• 31 Silver Medals
• 29 Bronze Medals
• 11 Honorable Mentions