Participate
There will be many students completing a research problem for consideration by the national selection committee. Our goal is to select the five students with the best research. However, we cannot select 5 students who have completed the same problem, so selection to the US team will be a combination of the quality of the research and ensuring problem coverage.1.
Complete at least 1 problem by Friday, March 13 2026. To submit your solution, students will provide a static PDF copy of their slides and a 12-minute recording presenting the slides.
2.
The submitted problems will be evaluated by independent reviewers who are experts in physics (college professors, former IYPT jurors etc)
3.
A subset of the submitted reports will be selected for a round two interview. Interviews will be conducted before the end of March, when the final team will be announced.
4.
Team members will then need to complete an additional problem prior to the tournament in July.
5.
Applicants may work individually or as a team of students. However, only one student can submit the work for a problem.
Selecting students for the US team
There will be many students completing a research problem for consideration by the national selection committee. Our goal is to select the five students with the best research. However, we cannot select 5 students who have completed the same problem, so selection to the US team will be a combination of the quality of the research and ensuring problem coverage.
Student Support with research
When requested, we will arrange video conference calls with subject matter experts to help you with your work. When requested, we can facilitate finding academic research. We can provide guidance on experimental design and data analysis. Please, just ask.
Cost of Participation
We are currently aggressively fundraising for Team USA 2026. Worst case scenario is that we fundraise $0 dollars and the estimated cost would be $4000 per student. However, we expect that not to be the case. We have several corporations that have indicated they will support our mission; we are waiting for confirmation. When you indicate an interest in participation, we will keep you apprised of our fundraising efforts.
Estimated Travel
Below is what we hope travel expectations will be. However, this is right around the 250-year anniversary of birth of our country in Philadelphia. We will need to be flexible here.