Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010

N. Raleigh teen wins coveted scholarship

He's headed to MIT in the fall, with $25K

It takes a trained eye to see excitement in a beaded cube and beauty in a geometry proof.

North Raleigh's Damien Jiang, 17, started developing that focus at a young age.

"I always thought it was cool that math builds on itself by taking simple objects and making them into more complex ones," Jiang said. "In the end, everything can be broken down to simpler things."

The North Carolina School of Science and Math graduate is bound for the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall, with a little something extra tucked in his back pocket: a $25,000 Davidson fellowship.

He is one of nine recipients selected from competitors across the country.

The Davidson Fellows Scholarship awards $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 scholarships annually to people younger than 18 who have completed significant work in math, science, literature, music, technology, philosophy or an "out of the box" wildcard category.

In addition to the nine $25,000 fellows, there are three Davidson Fellow Laureates who received $50,000 for college, and eight $10,000 scholarship recipients.

As part of his Davidson application, Jiang included his research conducted under an MIT mentor that has broad applications in disaster preparedness.

Dan Teague, one of Jiang's math instructors for two years at the school, recalls Jiang's ability to approach math in a "creative and unique" way.

"He thinks really clearly and deeply, even more than is expected even in a group of talented students like we have here," Teague said. "He has the right combination of creative insight, that spark of inspiration, coupled with a determined dedication which is really important."

Jiang moved to North Raleigh from Durham 10 years ago. His parents, both computer engineers, encouraged him in his natural leaning toward math and numbers, Jiang said.

But more recently, he protested when his parents suggested he put in the time for the lengthy Davidson Fellowship application.

"I told my parents, 'Why am I spending all this time doing this application when I'm not going to actually win anything? I'm reasonably smart, but I don't think I can compete with these people,'" Jiang said.

His parents, father Ming Ya Jiang and mother Dake Zheng, convinced him to try for it anyway.

"He has a very self-effacing way of putting these things. I said, 'Well, you never know. It's not on you to make that call,'" his father said.

Jiang was in Sweden at the International Linguistics Olympiad when he got the news that he was a winner.

"I was pleasantly surprised," Jiang said.

Jiang isn't just depending on the Davidson to pay his MIT tuition - he has other academic awards to help him, including a National Merit Scholarship.

After Jiang graduates from MIT, he says he might spend a few years working in finance, then study math in graduate school with a goal of becoming a professor.

But that's far in the future. For now, there are more immediate concerns to be dealt with, like his impending move to Boston.

"I hope I won't be terribly homesick," Jiang said.