The United States Invitational Young Physicists Tournament (USIYPT) is an annual physics research and debate tournament for high school students, held the last weekend in January. School-based teams of four students investigate several undergraduate-level research problems in preparation for the tournament. The competition itself consists of "physics fights," student-led debates over the quality of each team's solution. Teams are judged on their own solutions to the problems and on their ability to engage in evaluation and discussion of other teams' solutions. The Harker School of California, Phillips Exeter Academy of New Hampshire, and Rye Country Day School of New York are in a three-way tie for the most championships, with each school having won three times. The 2024 tournament was hosted on February 3–4, 2024, at North Carolina State University, with Rye Country Day School winning the champion title for the first time in seven years.
The United States sent teams to the International Young Physicists' Tournament several times in the 2000s, and achieved a second-place finish in 2005.[1] The nonprofit United States Association for Young Physicists Tournaments was incorporated in 2005, initially for the purpose of supporting and training the US team as well as to spread the pedagogical methodology of preparing and conducting the "physics fight."[2] In 2007, the USAYPT organized their own Young Physicists Tournament, inviting school-based teams from around the world to debate over a slate of four research problems. The one-day event at the North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM) included five teams, all from the United States; Woodberry Forest School won the inaugural championship.[3]
The 2008 tournament, also at NCSSM, included the first "international" team: Brisbane Girls Grammar School. They faced Woodberry Forest School, a boys' boarding school in central Virginia. In the final physics fight, Brisbane's Sarah Thang and Samantha Luck outdueled Woodberry's Chris McLamb and Robert Bauer for the title.[4]
For 2009 and 2010, the event was moved to Woodberry Forest School. Raffles Institution of Singapore beat out an eight-team field for the 2009 title.[5] However, the "snowmaggedon" blizzard of February forced cancellation of the 2010 tournament. Instead, two informal mini-tournaments were held in April, one at Woodberry Forest School, one at the Harker School in California.[6]
The USIYPT moved to Oak Ridge Associated Universities for 2011 and 2012, and expanded to a two-day, six-round event.[7] Teams and jurors toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory in between sets of physics fights, viewing the High Flux Isotope Reactor and the Spallation Neutron Source. Official sponsorship in 2011 came from the University of Tennessee department of physics, among others.[8] The Harker School won in 2011;[9] Rye Country Day School of New York won in 2012. Oak Ridge High School won the first-ever Clifford Swartz Trophy for top performance in the tournament's poster session.[10]
The 2014 tournament was held at the Harker School in San Jose, California.[11] The Harker School won the title with playoff victories over Woodberry Forest School and Shenzhen Middle School on the "Magnet Stack" and "Ball Stack" problems. Guilderland High School of New York won the Clifford Swartz Trophy for best poster.
In 2015, the USIYPT moved back to Woodberry Forest School. The final rounds were switched to a pool-play format. The Harker School and Woodberry Forest met twice in those final rounds, with Harker edging Woodberry 79-77 for the 2016 title. Other finalists included Rye Country Day, who were 1/10 of a point off Woodberry's pace; and first-time USIYPT participant Renmin University High School of Beijing, China.
Second-year participant Phoenixville Area High School of Pennsylvania topped the standings after the preliminary rounds in the 2016 USIYPT. They, Harker, Rye Country Day School, and Shenzhen Middle School competed in the final rounds, with Shenzhen coasting to the championship.
At the 2017 tournament at the University of the Sciences, the Harker School was the highest ranked of the six teams who entered the playoff rounds. Rye Country Day School emerged from those rounds with a convincing victory of 77-72 against RDFZ of Beijing.[12]
In 2018, Randolph College hosted the largest-ever USIYPT, including fifteen schools from all over the US and the world. Phillips Exeter Academy won their first-ever trophy in their fourth year of participation.
At the 2019 tournament at Rye Country Day School, Phillips Exeter Academy won their second straight championship, with first-time attendees Phillips Andover Academy in second place. In the late stages of the tournament, Swartz Trophy winners Pioneer School of Ariana, Tunisia and The Harker School competed in the first partially student-juried physics fight.
In 2020, Cary Academy won their first championship in school history, after facing Woodberry Forest School, Phillips Andover Academy, and Phillips Exeter Academy in the final rounds.
Due to COVID, the 2021 tournament was hosted online.[13] The Nueva School, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Woodberry Forest School made the three-team round-robin final round. Phillips Exeter Academy emerged on top with their third-ever championship.
In 2023, The Nueva School won their second championship in a row, overhauling their preliminary round points disadvantage against Phillips Exeter Academy to win 86.99 to 79.80 in the final round. Of the 11 participating teams, 6 made it through the preliminary rounds and competed in the final.
In 2024, Rye Country Day School won their third championship ever, winning with a final score of 84.44 to break a 7-year losing streak after facing Phillips Andover Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and The Nueva School in the final rounds. They placed first with a margin of 0.16 points over Phillips Exeter Academy's final score of 84.28. Other finalists included Cary Academy and Woodberry Forest School.
The USIYPT consists of six preliminary rounds and a set of final rounds. In each round, called a "Physics Fight," a student from the reporting team presents a 10-minute summary of their research into one of the four official tournament problems. Next, a student from another team engages the reporter in a 12-minute conversation about the reporting team's project. This opponent is charged with helping the audience understand the strengths and weaknesses of the report by means of a series of discussion questions. Only after this conversation is complete are jury members allowed to question the presenting students directly. Teams are judged as much on their ability to ask and answer questions in the physics fight as on the quality of their initial presentations. [2]
Unusual among science competitions, the USIYPT aims to improve physics teaching skills as well as student understanding of the subject. High school teachers are participating members of each school's research team. The sponsoring organization chooses problems for each tournament that are "nontrivial, but not impossible," whose solutions are not necessarily unknown to practicing professional physicists, but are generally new to high school teachers and students. Research is expected to be conducted primarily in each team's school, with direction and assistance from a teacher at that school.[14]