FEBRUARY TO FEBRUARY: The annual USAYPT timeline is the first weekend in February we have a Tournament to the next year's first weekend in February and the next Tournament.

At the end of each Tournament, we announce the problems for the next year, and the year-long "take exam" known as the USAYPT begins again. Some schools get started immediately after Spring Break, but those are rare cases.

THEORY and DESIGN FIRST: The first "time-realization" is that you as the research advisor have to have some idea of the theory in order to teach your students. Spring and summer is a good time to do that, so that right after Labor Day in early September, you can begin your meetings, teaching each other theory, and designing apparatus. Matching students by ability to problems by difficulty is an art and part of "teaching". Good luck.

A good rule of thumb is theory-version 1 + design-version 1 by Halloween (31 October).

EXPERIMENT and DATA SECOND: The second "time-realization" is that you and your group have to build something and take some data. Its not unusual to spend some Saturday mornings wandering around Home Depot seeing what you might be able to turn into what. When you get that first set of data, cheer, and then back it up. Data is holy and that's a good thing to teach students.

A good rule of thumb is first data from a semi-working apparatus by Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November).

SLIDES and REHEARSAL THIRD: n The third "time-realization" is that you and your group have to make some presentation graphics slides with your work and one of the students has to become expert at presenting your work on that one problem. (Remember that you have to complete three out of four by February.)

A good rule of thumb is first set of slides and one rehearsal by Martin Luther King's birthday (mid-January)

Oh the appliation packet, money, and release forms are due the first week of January...

There is a subtle issue that we need to get out of the way now. You will likely build two to four prototype apparatus and data IF you want some quality research.

Remember that motto "Make Your Mistakes Faster"? Each mistake that is discovered means a new prototype. Welcome to science. As Einstein said (somewhere) "Mother Nature is not malicious, just subtle" or words to that effect.