And in His Spare Time. . . .

Each year, the TechColumbus Innovation Awards recognizes high school students who are the best and brightest. For eligibility, a nominee must demonstrate contribution and success or understanding of a finding in one of the following technology-related fields: Information Technology, Life Sciences, Advanced Logistics, Advanced Materials, and Advanced Joining Technologies. Two scholarships for $2,500 are up for grabs.

This year I felt that I had already met the winner, and the only thing left for me to do was to submit a nomination for him. Metro third-year Alburuj Rahman is a very talented and driven young man. An accomplished musician and artist, Alburuj’s resume is 7 pages long (including all of his achievements, publications, certificates and honors).

The technology project that was spotlighted at the Innovation Awards on Feb. 4 was his work with Dr. Jian Wang at the OSU James Cancer Hospital. Alburuj has been working with Dr. Wang since the summer after his 9th-grade year when he displayed such maturity and eagerness that he was brought into the research of craniospinal irradiation (CSI) for cancer treatments. Yes, at 14 years old! Metro’s own Doogie Howser…

Alburuj’s description of his research: “With the aim of finding an effective and less harmful CSI compared to the inefficient conventional method, I have contributed toward developing novel techniques and completed many tests on the radiation therapy using software, Eclipse. My advisor Dr. Wang, our collaborator physician Dr. Montebello at the Radiation Oncology Department of OSU and myself, are at a point of implementing the new techniques on actual patients and are in the process of getting approval for it. I have written a draft of the article to submit for a refereed journal publication.”

Not only that, but according to Dr. Wang’s recommendation letter, Alburuj had an abstract accepted by and presented at the 2009 American Association of Physicists in Medicine annual meeting. “That is very unusual for such a high-level professional meeting.” Ya think?

Alburuj’s life isn’t all cancer research, though. He finds time to attend Metro and OSU classes; this year he is completing the “Bodies” biomedical program (see blog dated 2/1/10 – that’s him in the first picture). He has studied violin since 4th grade and has won many prizes and awards, including first place in the Talent Hunt in Senior Instrumental Music for the Federation of Indian Associations. He has won several writing competitions, drawing contests, and is a member of Columbus Folk Dancers.

 
We have to admit it: Metro didn’t create this young man; he was like this when he came to us. But we have given him some great opportunities and helped him accelerate his high school completion and develop his potential to succeed at his own pace—which is anything but leisurely!