Lab welcomes 15-year-old doctoral student

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EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) --  Air Force Research Laboratory experts routinely welcome college students to their facilities and give them a taste of what scientists and engineers do for the military. In turn, they hope to harness the young talent after they graduate.

Playing host to Alia Sabur for summer research is not really any different -- except for the fact she is only 15 years old and pursuing her doctorate in nanotechnology at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

The nation's youngest doctoral student, Alia graduated summa cum laude from New York State University at Stony Brook with her Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics when she was 14 years old.

For her doctoral studies, she is spending the summer doing research at the lab here. Her introduction to the Air Force's world of scientific research and development is courtesy of a national defense science and engineering graduate fellowship program. The lab’s office of scientific research is paying her tuition and fees, plus she is receiving a monetary stipend for the duration of her studies.

Experts in the office of scientific research oversee Air Force fundamental or basic research efforts across the nation at universities and lab facilities. Research efforts are also supported through the office's European and Asian facilities.

Lab officials hope Alia's extended visit to the lab's rocket propulsion technology research facilities this summer will provide an orientation to the broad spectrum of research and development pursuits being conducted here.

And Alia's hope is to contribute to those efforts.

"I hope my research (this summer) will provide an introduction to the cutting edge research taking place at Edwards," Alia said. "The (rocket lab) folks are really friendly and enthusiastic. They really enjoy what they are doing."

Earlier this year, Alia said her scientific pursuit is "the study and creation of electronic devices using optics at the nanoscale."

Experts said the study area, known as NanoPhotonics, is a very promising research area for extremely small devices useful for unlimited scientific and medical applications.

Identified as a prodigy at the age of 8 months when she began reading and talking, Alia was enrolled in college at age 10 to pursue her degree. She was the youngest female to graduate from college last year.

Besides her academic studies, Alia is a prodigy in the musical arena as well, claiming her passion for science is as important as her passion for music. She is known for her musical abilities with the clarinet and has been playing with orchestras since she was 11. She studies with Ricardo Morales, the Philadelphia Orchestra's principal clarinetist.

For her personal enjoyment, Alia said she likes Broadway shows, magic and music ranging from classical to blues and jazz. Practicing her clarinet for three hours every day, she also welcomes the opportunity to perform in musical concerts. One of her favorite selections is Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto.”

When asked about encouraging other young women to enter the sciences, Alia said, "Girls are afraid of being perceived as nerds or dweebs. I try to show that you can be normal, have friends and not act like a dweeb."

The lab's research and development facilities here provide propulsion directorate scientists and engineers with the Air Force's most modern rocket propulsion technology capabilities in the nation. Almost every American space launch vehicle, ballistic missile and spacecraft propulsion system can trace its legacy back to here. (Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)