Alia Sabur, Youngest University Professor Appointed

This young woman has broken a Guinness World Record, becoming the youngest appointed professor. Her birthday is the 22 of February - 1989, making her just over nineteen years old. She is a full-time professor at Konkuk University in South Korea. According to her website biography, Salbur went straight from fourth grade to college and graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude from Stony Brook University in New York at just fourteen years old. Her Ph.D. is in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University. She has yet to finish her dissertation, but the way this woman is headed, this should be no problem. She has already published papers in her field.

Sabur is well-rounded, not only is she academically advanced, but this child prodigy has also been performing with orchestras since she was only eleven years old, winning awards for her performances. She also has interests in Tae Kwan Do, Art, and Origami - with one of her aims being to show other young women and girls, that female scientists are anything but "nerdy".

Other child prodigies include Jay Greenberg, Akiane, and Sufiah Yusof. Jay Greenberg has been compared to Mozart. This sixteen year old wrote five full length symphonies by the time he was twelve years old. According to his website biography, he began playing the cello when he was only three years old. He composed a piece called "Overture to 9/11", which won him first place in a composition competition held by Julliard spring 2003. This young man is still working hard at his music and releasing CD's.

Akaine, a thirteen year old artist and poet, is home schooled with her siblings. According to her website, she began drawing when she was four and painting when she was six. In addition to English, this teenager speaks Lithuanian, Russian, and can utilize sign language with proficiency. She appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show when she was just eight years old to show off her self-portrait. This young lady is also quite religious, evoking a Christian following. On her website, it states that she brought her family to Christianity at a young age due to an experience she had. She also sells prints of her paintings from her website.

However, not every child prodigy story is a success. Sufiah Yusof, a young woman who began attending Oxford University at the tender age of 13 ran away at 15. At twenty three, according a Daily Mail article, this young woman had changed her name to "Shilpa Lee" and was advertising herself on the internet - as a prostitute. Her reasoning behind running away at fifteen was that she felt imprisoned by a childhood that was a "living hell" being pushed towards academic success. According to an email she had sent her father, she had endured "years of physical and emotional abuse". This leads to the question: How hard should parents push their gifted children? In another case, reported by CBS News, fourteen year old Brandenn E. Bremmer committed suicide in 2005. His mother was flabbergasted by this action. Not all child prodigies grow up to have successes such as Sabur. Perhaps the pressure put on by media recognition and public expectations is too much for the immaturity of these children who are extraordinarily talented. It is important to remember, that while these young people are prodigies, they are also, very often children still - and need to have a well-rounded balance.