ENGINEERING MAESTRO

"IF I WANT to do something badly, it usually ends up getting done," says Alia Sabur, who recently celebrated her 15th birthday. Such words coming from most teens would come across as snotty or as an exercise in false bravado. But Alia is not bragging. Her comment is an accurate assessment of her undeniable skills. Though she is in many ways a typical American teenager, Alia possesses mental capabilities beyond those of most people, regardless of their age. Alia is working on a Ph.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering at Philadelphia's Drexel University. She is specializing in nanophotonics, the use of fiber optics to study and create electronic devices at the nanoscalc. Last year, she completed an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics at the State University of New York-Stony Brook, where she graduated summa cum laucle with a 3.96 GPA. Moving from fourth grade to her freshman year of college, Alia started out a physics major but veered into applied math "because I liked the application aspect of it more." She's pursuing an engineering doctorate because she prefers engineering's interdisciplinary approach. Her specialty, for which she's seeking a patent, is a 3D-imaging process that makes the trapping of atoms "easier, simpler, and cheaper." Eventual practical applications could include microsurgical techniques for cancer patients or armies of tiny robots that cleanse clogged blood vessels.

Alia is the daughter of a retired electrical engineer and a former TV reporter. Her mother says Alia was reading and talking at 8 months. At 2, she was reading Charlotte's Web aloud. Alia took to college life from the start. Professors were not inclined to patronize her, something she clearly loathes. And college at the doctoral level is even better, she says.

But if research is her avocation, music is her passion. At 10, Alia heard for the first time Mozart's clarinet concerto and fell in love with it. "I said I wanted to play that piece." By 11, she performed it with a full orchestra. Today, she continues to study clarinet. Once her doctorate is finished, Alia expects to continue work as a researcher and perform as a professional musician. She's sure she can do both because of her talent for light-speed thinking. As she points out: "That's what makes me special." And coming from a child who can read and absorb books at a rate of 100 pages an hour, that's not a boast.