Local Whiz Kid Earns Spot on U.S. International Chemistry Olympiad Team

National chemistry whiz Stephen Li of Troy has qualified for a spot on the U.S. team that will compete at the 46th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO).

Li, a 2014 graduate of Troy High School, was identified as one of the top 20 chemistry students in the nation in 2013; now he is now one of the top four. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is the official sponsor of the U.S. team.

Another Troy student, Steven Cheng, was also a qualifier for one of the four spots on the team.

The four-member U.S. team will compete with teams from more than 70 other countries for gold, silver and bronze medals at the Hanoi University of Science in Vietnam, July 20-29.

The competition to be part of the international event is fierce; beginning with a multiple-choice exam taken by nearly 16,000 high school students in the U.S. Li’s performance on this exam earned him the opportunity to take the National Chemistry Olympiad test.

Out of more than 1,000 of the nation’s brightest chemistry students who took the national test, he advanced to the top 20. Those students attended a two-week long study camp at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, June 3-18. At the conclusion, four students were named to the team, along with two alternates.

ACS has sponsored the American team annually since the U.S. joined the Olympiad. Principal funding is through the ACS Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Olympiad Endowment, with additional support from the Air Force Academy; Advanced Chemistry Development; Carolina Biological Supply Company; Cengage Learning; Flinn Scientific, Inc.; Fisher Science Education; McGraw-Hill Companies; Prentice Hall Publishers; Sigma Aldrich Co.; Texas Instruments, Inc.; University Science Books and Wiley & Sons Publishers.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.