U.S. Chemistry Olympiad Team Chosen

Four U.S. high school students are headed to Vietnam to represent the U.S. in the 46th International Chemistry Olympiad, to be held July 20–29 in Hanoi. The four-member team was chosen on June 17 at the conclusion of an intensive two-week study camp sponsored by the American Chemical Society and held at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

The team consists of Andrew Chen of West Windsor Plainsboro High School South, in New Jersey; Robert Kao of Edwin O. Smith High School, in Storrs, Conn.; Stephen Li of Troy High School, in Michigan; and Derek Wang of North Allegheny Senior High School, in Wexford, Pa.

“Our team is extremely strong,” says head mentor Melissa Barranger-Mathys, assistant professor of chemistry at Ursuline College in Ohio. “We have a great group of thinkers, and they can reason through any challenging problem.”

“I’m really humbled by the fact that I got chosen for the travel team,” Wang says. “I’m going to do my best to get a gold medal for the U.S., but I’m also really excited to meet young chemists from around the world.”

“I’m really proud of myself,” says Kao, who notes that he became hooked on learning chemistry in fourth grade after picking up a chemistry book at his local library and realizing that he understood the material.

Li says that he’s in disbelief that he made the team. “I’ve wanted to make it for so long,” he says. But he knows there’s still much work ahead that comes with a great deal of responsibility. “You’re representing not just yourself or your school, but your country.”

The students say they are confident they will prove themselves. “Our biggest strength is the fact that we can work together, and we can help each other,” Chen says. “For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been working against each other, but at a moment’s notice, we can turn that around and we can be teammates rather than competitors.”­