Student Mentoring
Our alumni are active in helping us train future competitors!
Alumni mentors assist with pre-camp lectures and study sessions in the Canadian Junior Physics Olympiad Camp (a new online camp for students in grades 10/11).
Please meet members of our alumni CJPhO team:
Athanasios participated in the 2024 European Physics Olympiad in Kutaisi, Georgia as part of Team Canada, where he won an honourable mention. He retains a deep interest in physics olympiads. He is currently studying mechanical engineering at McGill University.
Connor won a bronze medal at the 2023 International Physics Olympiad in Tokyo, Japan as a member of the Canadian Physics Team. He attended the 2023 CPhO and also won a silver medal at the 2022 International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics. He is currently studying physics at the University of Cambridge, and is ever passionate about teaching physics!
Robert Yang comes from Saskatoon, Canada. He currently studies physics as an undergrad at the University of Toronto, but is also into math, computer science, and violin. Besides that, he enjoys games like Minecraft, Dungeons and Dragons, and Polytopia. Athanasios participated in the 2024 European Physics Olympiad in Kutaisi, Georgia as part of Team Canada, where he won an honourable mention. He retains a deep interest in physics olympiads. He is currently studying mechanical engineering at McGill University, where he is involved with the university’s student rocketry team.
Savero is an IPhO alumnus who represented Indonesia in 2023. Currently, he is a third-year student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the combined honours in computer science and physics program. Savero is interested in quantum computation, and his current research revolves around quantum and randomized classical algorithms for estimating the ground state energy of quantum many-body systems.
Tian is a second year student in Princeton studying physics. He was a two time camper and IOAA team member. In his free time loves listening to music and stargazing.
Tristan attended the European Physics Olympiad as a member of Team Canada in 2024 and attended the Canadian Physics Olympiad in both 2023 and 2024. He is currently studying mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo and is passionate about physics, robotics, and rocketry.
Zander represented Canada at the IPhO (2023, 2025) and EuPhO (2024). He likes oscilloscopes and is excited to continue supporting the Canadian physics program while at university!
Hongyi is a rising sophomore in Stanford studying mathematics. He represented Canada for IPhO (2025) and IOAA (2022, 2023, 2024). In his free time, he loves reading about mathematics, physics, and watching Liverpool FC.
*Our 2025 Pre-Camp and Junior Camps were run by Canadian Olympiad alumni Athanasios Avrakanas, Connor Wong, Tian Pu, Tristan Yan-Klassen and Vincent Millington.
Meet the Professionals
In our video below, meet Olympiad alumni members and current PhD-holders, Sonny Chan (Research Scientist at Meta Reality Labs, Washington), Felip Crnogorac (Director of Technology [Biotech] at Centrillion Technologies, California) and Boris Braverman (Senior Research Scientist at QuEra Computing, Boston), who share highlights of their experiences as former Team Canada participants, and how this competition influenced their subsequent careers and enhanced their professional opportunities in physics.
Olympiad alumni: Sonny Chan (IPhO 1998, 1999), Felip Crnogorac (IPhO 1998 & 1999) and Boris Braverman (IPhO 2006); interview with Kirsty Dickson, Department of Physics & Astronomy Communications & Outreach Coordinator, March 15, 2023.
