UA Physics Team won the 2nd pace in the USPT
On January 11 -12, a team of undergraduate students from our department, Pradhiman Bora, Ruth Dierdorff, Graham Gordon, Matthew Maxim, Kudzai Musarandega, and Rohin Sant, participated in USPT 2025, the US Physicists' Tournament, held once again in Stillwater, Oklahoma. USPT is a relatively new but rapidly growing national physics competition where students tackle a list of open-ended physics problems such as:
- Investigating the limits of height and speed for rockets made from a single PET bottle, powered by expulsion.
- Determining the conditions under which bubbles falling on a soft carpet remain intact.
After months of preparation organized by our graduate students Manolis Drimalas and Brianna Billingsley, students present and defend their solutions in "Physics Battles," engaging in debates where they also critique the solutions of their peers. The winning team earns the honor of representing the US in IPT, the International Physicists' Tournament.
Our team achieved an impressive 2nd place, scoring just 5 points fewer than Oklahoma State University, which will represent the US at IPT for the third consecutive year. While narrowly missing the top spot, we hope that this was an interesting and valuable experience for the participating students, contributing to the growing tradition of our department's participation in USPT and IPT. This marks our second year competing, and we are already looking ahead to next year’s tournament, so stay tuned!
