Tanishq Abraham

Now 18 years old, Tanishq Abraham is one of the world’s most remarkable child prodigies. By six years old, he was taking courses in high school chemistry, physics and biology. At 10, he graduated high school with a perfect GPA, and at 11, he graduated junior college with 3 Associate Degrees. By 15, he earned his biomedical engineering degree with summa cum laude from University of California, Davis, in just two years. He is now a graduate student in the later stages of the PhD program in biomedical engineering at University of California, Davis.  

Tanishq plans to become a medical doctor as well as a research scientist – and looks likely to reach his goal at a young age. However, it hasn’t all been easy. Along the way he faced bullying and unsupportive teachers – and he initially struggled to find professors who would allow him to sit in on or take their courses. Along the way, he has shared his love of learning through TED talks, guest lectures, TV shows, social media posts, university teaching, and mentorship of undergraduate scientists.  

Tanishq has received a great deal of public recognition for his talents and achievements. His educational trajectory has garnered international media coverage on AP, CNN, Yahoo, MSNBC, MBC, ABC, The Washington Post, Times of India, Indian Express and many other media. He was the recipient of a congratulatory letter from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for becoming a Mensa member at such a young age, as well as one from President Barack Obama for graduating high school at age 10. He is the youngest ever member of Phi Beta Kappa. And he has already contributed to scientific research, having co-authored a 30-page chapter in the book Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning in Pathology at the age of 16. 

Contrary to popular assumption, however, being a young star has not necessarily provided Tanishq with unlimited funding for graduate study. If he wins the Global Student Prize, as he is working extra hard to complete his PhD research due to underfunding, he understands what's it's like and would like to share part of his award with students who are underfunded to pursue their higher education. He will also primarily use the funds to complete his research and travel to international conferences for the purpose of sharing knowledge and promoting learning. With the recent humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, he would like to contribute some part of the funds to education of the children there.