About the IChO

The U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad is a multi-tiered chemistry competition. The top four students of the national competition represent the United States in the annual International Chemistry Olympiad. Nine students from the North Jersey Section have been selected to the U.S. team in the past 13 years.

Students are nominated by their schools to participate, in a process that starts in January each year with a letter sent to area high schools. See the [ 2016 Invitation Letter ].

IChO links at ACS: [ overview | US competition | US teams | 2016 US results ]

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(Past Competition)

48^th International Chemistry Olympiad 2016

Congratulations to the following area students who scored among the top 50 in the USA:

Charles Dai (West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Teacher: Andrea Knorr)
Lance Tan (Newark Academy, Teacher: Willian Hobson)
Stephan Yan (East Brunswick High School, Teacher: Deborah Cretsinger)
Yanjun Yang (Millburn High School, Teacher: John Yi)

Congratulations to the following area students who scored among the top 150 in the USA:

Isabelle Augensen (Morristown High School, Teacher Edwin Villhauer)
Matthew Grossman (Millburn High School, Teacher: John Yi)
Elizabeth John (Highland Park High School, Teacher: Keisha Stephen)
Uday Shankar (West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Teacher: Andrea Knorr)
Michelle Shui (Watchung Hills Regional High School, Teacher: Michael Gangluff)
Carolyn Wong (Morristown High School, Teacher: Edwin Villhauer)
Akshay Yeluri (John P Stevens High School, Teacher: Michele Lumsden)
Alice Zhang (East Brunswick High School, Teacher: Deborah Cretsinger)

The preliminary test was taken in the schools. NJ-ACS acknowledges Essex County College for hosting the NJ-ACS portion of the national test.

Congratulations to all the NJ-ACS area students who competed in the 2016 International Chemistry Olympiad. Four of them scored among the top 50 students in the US, and 8 others among the top 150.

[ more… ]

2016 National Olympiad 1 – Group: 2016 National Olympiad 1 – Group
2016 National Olympiad 2: 2016 National Olympiad 2
2016 National Olympiad 3: 2016 National Olympiad 3
2016 National Olympiad 4: 2016 National Olympiad 4
2016 National Olympiad 5 – Morristown Girls: 2016 National Olympiad 5 – Morristown Girls

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✎ 2016-03-01

(Past Competition)

43^rd International Chemistry Olympiad 2011

Congratulations to J. P. Stevens High School Junior Elmer Tan, who won a Silver medal at the 43rd IChO in Anakra, Turkey

✎ 2011-03-01

(Past Competition)

42^nd International Chemistry Olympiad 2010

Congratulations to to South Brunswick High School senior Utsarga Sikder (third from left), who won a Bronze medal at the 42nd IChO in Tokyo, Japan

✎ 2010-03-01

(Past Competition)

41^st International Chemistry Olympiad 2009

The 2009 Olympiad took place in Cambridge, England.

The entire process began with a screening test. Accordingly, around 200 high school students from the North Jersey section were nominated by their teachers and given a 1st level screening test at FDU Florham in mid March.

From these, a dozen or students were qualified to go on to the 2nd level, the Advanced Test.

Below are the nine North Jersey ACS students who competed in the Advanced Test for 2009.
The picture was taken at Fairleigh Dickinson University during the five hour exam. Twenty students from the ACS sections across the country attended a two week study camp at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. From there, four competed in the International Chemistry Olympiad.

Left to right back row: Mathew Akhil, Madison HS, Christopher Varnerin, Watchung RHS, Yixiao Wang, Westfield HS,. Front row: Siddarth Viswanathan, East Brunswick, David Kolchmeyer, East Brunswick HS, Ian Osborn, Bergen Academy, Ajay Roopakalu, South Brunswick HS, Utsarga Sikder, South Brunswick HS, Timothy Barnum, Watchung RHS.

Two of the North Jersey students placed in the top 20 nationally for the 2009 Chemistry Olympiad and went on to the Air Force Academy training camp in June. They are:

Yixiao Wang, Westfield HS (teachers: Martha Bailey & Louis Casagrande), and
Utsarga Sikder, So. Brunswick HS (teacher: Theresa Farinella)

This makes seven consecutive years that the North Jersey Section had placed at least one student in the top 20, and we have placed 2 in each of the last 5 years. Congratulations to students and teachers!

Gold Medalist Yixiao Wang receiving his award from Sir Harry Kroto at the 2009 International Chemistry Olympiad at Cambridge, UK. [photo: John Kotz]

Subsequently, Yixiao Wang, who also placed in the top 20 the previous year, was selected as one of the four members of the U.S. Team to compete in the 2009 International Chemistry Olympiad in Cambridge, UK, in July. He won a gold medal for the U.S. at the Olympiad!

Gold Medalist Yixiao Wang and Congressman Leonard Lance

Gold Medalist Yixiao Wang at his high school in Westfield, NJ, receiving a citation from Congressman Leonard Lance which was also entered into the Congressional Record

(Details had been in the C&EN Article as well as mentor John Kotz’s blog which had pictures and personal reflections but both links now broken. Sorry.)

✎ 2009-03-01

(Past Competition)

40^th International Chemistry Olympiad 2008

Congratulations to East Brunswick High School student Yuxin Xie (first from left), who won a Bronze medal at the 40th IChO in Budapest, Hungary

✎ 2008-03-01

(Past Competition)

39^th International Chemistry Olympiad 2007

Congratulations to Bergen County Academies student Brian Lee (fourth from left), who won a Silver medal at the 39th IChO in Moscow, Russia

✎ 2007-03-01

(Past Competition)

38^th International Chemistry Olympiad 2006

Congratulations to Manalapan High School student Andrew Freddo (first from left) and East Brunswick High School student Alexander Zozula (third from left), who won Silver and Bronze medals at the 38th IChO in Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea