Reported by Chueng-Ryong Ji (NHSPC Chair,
Professor of Physics, North Carolina State University)
The 2025 National High School Physics Competition (NHSPC) was held on April 5, 2025. NHSPC has been held annually as a joint event between the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA) and the Association of Korean Physicists in America (AKPA) since 2013. The NHSPC became an essential component of the National Math and Science Contest (NMSC) of KSEA. The goals of the contest are to promote physics among young students of Korean-American and other ethnic heritage, help them exposed to physics in early ages, and encourage them to become scientists. The national prizes are supported through Kiuck Lee High School Physics Scholarship established in 2015 through the generosity of the Lee family and contributions from many AKPA members. As a team effort of AKPA NHSPC committee members, the following six team members developed and delivered exam questions for grades 9-12 along with solutions and grading instructions for the NHSPC 2025: Dean Lee (Michigan State University), Harold Kim (Georgia Institute of Technology), Kijun Park (Hampton University Proton Cancer Therapy Institute), Yoonseok Lee (University of Florida), Kyungseon Joo (Univ. of Connecticut) and Chueng-Ryong Ji (North Carolina State University).
Among 72 high school students who participated in the NHSPC 2025, there were 24 female and 48 male students from 9 local chapters of KSEA. The numbers of participated students in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades were 1, 11, 18, 40, and 2, respectively. The certificates for the national winners have been jointly signed by the presidents of AKPA and KSEA. This year’s winners are as follows:
- 1st Place: Keenan Park (11th Grade, Whitney High School, Cerritos, CA)
- 2nd Place (tied): Hyunjae Cho (11th Grade, The Hun School of Princeton, Princeton, NJ)
- 2nd Place (tied): Yeowon Yoon (11th Grade, Troy High School, Fullerton, CA)
The award ceremony was held on May 16, 2025, together with the Outstanding Young Researcher Award (OYRA) ceremony. NHSPC award ceremony was intended to expose high school students to exciting new forefront developments in physics introduced by leading premier physicists in the field.
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