MEET THE WORLD'S YOUNGEST PROFESSOR

“knowing is not enough, we must apply”

 - Johann Wolfgang

Alia Sabur

Alia Sabur was born on February 22, 1989 in New York, United States. She finished her elementary school at age 5. From fourth grade, she jumped into the University and graduated with a B.SC ( Summa  cum laude) in Applied Mathematics from Stony Brooks University, NewYork at age 14. Sabur continued her education at Drexel University where she earned an M.SC and a Ph.D. Three days before her 19^th birthday, she officially became the youngest Professor in history toppling the previous record held by Colin maclaurin, a sudent of Isaac Newton in 1717.

Alia Sabur has done ground breaking work towards developing nanotube-based cellular probes for use in medical research. She is also interested in an avenue to develop non-invasive optical blood glucose meters for people with diabetes. She gave her idea for stopping the Gulf of Mexico oil leak. Her plan calls for Welding deflated  auto tires to a pipe, inserting the contraption into the gusher and inflating the tires with hydraulic fluid to form a Seal.

Aside from her unprecedented academic achievements, Sabur has a black belt in the Korean Martial art of Taekwando and is also a music prodigy. She enjoys performing as an Orchestral member, Chamber musician and Soloist equally and is venturing into Cross over, Jazz and Fusion. She also likes Reading and travelling.

In 2008, Sabur filed a civil suit against Drexel University, claiming that the University engaged in fraud and defamation regarding her pursuit of a doctoral degree. In the suit , Sabur  charges that Yury Gegotsi, her former Ph.D Advisor, improperly  used her Research to apply for grants and deliberately obstructed  her degree. Trial proceedings began on August 9, 2010. That was when she grew disillusioned with the science World.

In 2008, the Guiness Book of Records named Alia Sabur the World's youngest professor. She is the youngest ever to receive fellowships and awards from the department of defence, NASA, GAANN and NSF. She also received a black belt  in Tae kwon Do at the age of 9. In June 2010, Sabur appeared on CNN and Fox News to illustrate her idea, which BP as considered as an option to help alleviate the deep water horizon oil spill in the golf of mexico. Alia was named a Yamaha young performing artist (the youngest ever ), and winner of the Greenwish village Orchestra and Oklahoma university clarinet symposium competition. Others  awards are: 

      Golden key international society,(Top Senior Award 2003)

      AFRL, Edwards Air force Base, Research, 2004.

      Global Human Resources Forum, invited speaker seoul, South Korea 2008.

      Delegate to Asia Society Young Leaders summit, Tokyo Japan 2008.

Sabur believes in the application of knowledge and that is why she has a great passion for teaching and research. Her favourite quote is “knowing is not enough, we must apply” (Johann Wolfgang). Alia tries to be a role model for Young people especially girls by breaking the stereotype that Scientists are nerdy. She is an inspiration to many Youths around the World. 

(The Economist Nigeria)     

Join the conversation on:

Twitter: @opendoorseries

YouTube: opendoorseriestv

Facebook: www.facebook.com/opendoorseries

Website: www.opendoorseries.com