Scholars in the News
Reshma Tharani, 21, is part of a new breed of community college student
Scholars in the Arts
"I am fascinated by the breadth of Art History and by how painting teaches a culture about itself."
Jiageng Luan
“My mother always worked so hard to support us when I was growing up in China, and I promised myself that I would do my best to support her the moment I was able. Moving to America was a pivotal experience in my childhood. Upon coming here, I quickly discovered that the American dream was not a dream but rather reality; I could accomplish anything if I worked hard enough. I have used this fact every day since.”
- Program: 2009 College Scholarship Recipient
- Resides: Worcester, MA
- Hometown: Harbin, China
- Age: 20
- Four-year College or University: Yale University
- Academic/Career Pursuits: Arts / Music / Performance, Aviation, Business, Computing / IT, Engineering, Entrepreneur / Independent Business, Environmental Scientist, Finance / Economy, Mathematics, Sciences, Artifical Intelligence, Robotics, Cognitive Science
- Other Interests: Foreign Languages / International Study, International Economic Development, Languages, Nonprofits, Philosophy, Sports, Tutoring / Mentoring, Robots, Ultimate Frisbee, Jogging
Biography
Highlights of Young Scholar Experience: Through the Foundation’s Advanced Mentorship Program, Jiageng “David” Luan spent a year designing and implementing a robotic racecar that could make a map out of an unknown track and find the fastest path to take in a race. The Foundation also supported David’s quest to learn to fly by funding flying lessons. In September of 2008, David soloed in a Cessna 172P.
Profile: In junior high school David was fortunate to be taking advanced classes, including a class in robotics, at Worcester State College in his hometown. David was not predisposed to enjoy the robotics course “because it seemed a departure from the more serious computer science classes that I had taken since I was eight.” But in that robotics lab, 12-year-old David Luan discovered in a heartbeat what he wanted to do for his life’s work. That first robotics class was over four years ago and David still spends much of his free time investigating artificial intelligence and experimenting with robotic electronics. After college is completed, David wants to start his own robotics company.
Inspiration: In addition to David’s mother, he points to his math coach at Worcester Academy, Richard Yanco, who helped him “put things into perspective and helped me work through challenging problems.”
Aspiration: David hopes to someday be an inventor of genuinely intelligent robots and own a company to produce them.
Making a Difference: David and a friend from Phillips Academy have a provisionally patented design for a new type of skateboard truck, the part of the board that handles all the turning.
Accolades: His love of computers and math showed in some of the awards David received. Last year the Phillips Academy Computer Science Team won first place at the St. Bonaventure University Programming Contest. During his senior year he won the Siemens AP Award, given to one male and one female from each state in the union for highest percentage of correct answers on five or more Advanced Placement exams. In addition, he won the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Math Invitational and placed 13th in the country at American Regions Math League 2008.
Interesting fact: He recently took up Nordic skiing “and it turns out that I’m decent at it.”
Other Scholars Like Jiageng
Thuy Ho
College Scholar
Yale University
Zhenbang Li
College Scholar
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Patrick Hunter
College Scholar
Knox College
John Windham
Graduate Scholar
UCLA