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Societies Honor Physics Olympiad Team, Support
Science Education Funding
Last week, 24 of the top physics students from high schools around
the nation came to College Park, Maryland for the week- long U.S.
Physics Team Training Camp. These students have competed against
hundreds of their peers across the country in a rigorous series of tests
to earn a place on the 2002 Physics Team.
Since 1986, the American Institute of Physics and the American
Association of Physics Teachers, with support from other societies, have
recruited, selected, and trained teams to compete in the International
Physics Olympiad. In conjunction with the Team's visit to the nation's
capitol, AIP and AAPT sent a brief policy statement to Congress. Members
of Congress were invited to join in "celebrating the achievements of
these U.S. Physics Team students" by supporting full funding for federal
programs to improve K-12 science and math education.
In the Education Department, specific funding for science and math
education reform is provided through the Math and Science Partnerships
program. As has been reported previously, this program was established
and authorized at $450 million annually in the "No Child Left Behind"
bill (now Public Law 107-110), but only received $12.5 million in FY
2002. Another $12.5 million has been requested for FY 2003. This will
not be enough for the program to reach high-need school districts in all
states, as it was intended to do. NSF also has its own version of Math
and Science Partnerships. The NSF Partnerships, which are merit- based
awards to develop model reform programs, received $160 million in FY
2002; $200 million has been requested for the coming year. A bill to
authorize this program at $200 million per year was passed by the House
(H.R. 1858), but the companion bill (S. 1262) has not yet passed in the
Senate.
The policy statement sent to Congress by AIP and AAPT was endorsed by
eight other scientific societies, including these AIP Member Societies:
the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the
American Astronomical Society, and the Acoustical Society of America.
The text of the statement follows:
"We urge Congress to support K-12 science and math
education, particularly programs that enable professional development
for teachers and preparation of new teachers, by funding the Math and
Science Partnership programs at the levels called for in authorizing
legislation:
$450 million for the Department of Education Partnerships
in P.L. 107-110, and
$200 million for the NSF Partnerships in the House-passed
H.R. 1858."
For 2002, due to concerns about international travel, the Physics
Team will not send students to compete in the international Olympiad,
held this year in Indonesia. Instead, the top five Team members were
presented with awards and scholarships at a June 7 ceremony cosponsored
by AIP, AAPT, and NASA's Office of Space Science. The students heard
from astronaut John Grunsfeld and several federal officials, including
Norman Neureiter, the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of
State. "You're not going to Indonesia this year," Neureiter said, "but
you are in fact starting your trip out into a world of science, and
automatically with that you're joining an international world, a world
which will cross borders. And I guarantee as you go out into that world,
you're going to have a lot of international experiences. Physics is
perhaps the most universal of sciences today. Electrons travel with the
same speed and the same spin no matter what language is spoken, no
matter what borders they cross."
Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) sent a letter "to congratulate and celebrate
the achievements of the students of the United States Physics Team," and
Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) introduced remarks into the Congressional Record
on June 6 "to applaud the achievements of the members of the 2002 Unites
States Physics Olympiad Team.... I personally want to thank all of the
students who made an effort to become a part of this team for showing
others that science is and can be fun. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues
to join me in saluting these future leaders of our
country."
Audrey T. Leath
Media and Government Relations
Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301)
209-3094
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