Recently, results of the 2022 University Physics Competition (UPC) were unveiled. SPST undergraduate students Zhao Yanzhi, Zhai Yizhou, and Feng Yibo, who are in "3+1" exchange at UC Berkeley, formed a team and won a Bronze Medal in the UPC. This was the first time ShanghaiTech students participated in this international competition and they won a medal.
The award certificate of ShanghaiTech University team for 2022 UPC
Group photo of the team (from left: Feng Yibo, Zhao Yanzhi, Zhai Yizhou)
UPC is an annual international competition for undergraduates from around the world, co-organized by the American Physical Society and the American Astronomical Society.
This year's competition attracted a total of 417 teams from universities in the United States, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and other countries. The competition requires students to form a team of up to three members. Each team must choose one of two provided problems, use physics principles to analyze real-world physical scenarios, and submit a formal paper within 48 hours. Problems are designed to be open-ended so as to test students' comprehensive skills such as innovation ability, academic thinking, teamwork ability and English writing.
In the competition, the ShanghaiTech team chose the problem of "Deflecting an asteroid". With less than two weeks to prepare, the team overcame many difficulties such as time constraints, being overseas, and lack of experience. In addition to completing course study and research assignments in Berkeley, they also squeezed out time to prepare for the competition under much pressure. With the encouragement and support of SPST, the team members made concerted efforts to read the literature and build theoretical models. Zhao Yanzhi wrote the code for simulation, and Zhai Yizhou and Feng Yubo wrote the paper. By brainstorming different ideas, adjusting parameters, breaking down complex physics problems and optimizing models, they finally achieved a good result.
When asked to describe his feelings about this competition, Zhao Yanzhi said:"Participating in an international competition abroad was a very unique experience. The biggest challenge was the tight preparation time and the pressure of completing other research and course assignments at the same time. We worked together and utilized extracurricular time to prepare. We also reviewed many papers from previous UPC sessions and relevant coding skills, and finally got a satisfactory score." All team members agreed that the courses they learned at ShanghaiTech as freshmen, such as "Principle of physics I & II" and "Introduction to Information Technology", laid a solid knowledge foundation for them, giving them the confidence and capability to compete with other teams from top universities.
Thanks to the rich cooperation and international exchange opportunities provided by ShanghaiTech, students have the opportunity of multi-cultural exchanges (such as "3+1" international exchanges program, summer courses and research programs) to improve their awareness of innovation, practical ability and international competitiveness. At the same time, their excellent performance in overseas universities has also established a good reputation for ShanghaiTech.
ShanghaiTech always attaches importance to talent cultivation exemplified by internationalization and high-standard practice, and encourages students to "go global" through various channels, such as exchange programs, international conferences, research cooperation and international competitions. In the future, ShanghaiTech will continue to provide opportunities for international education and to cultivate more innovative talents with global vision and international competitiveness.