Two degrees, two books, flies aeroplanes, works for Nasa - all at just 17

Moshe Kai Cavalin has racked up an exhausting list of curricular and extra-curricular feats but insists his case 'isn't that special'.

Teenage genius Moshe Kai Cavalin helps Nasa develop surveillance technology for aeroplanes and drones. Shu Chien via AP

Moshe Kai Cavalin has two college degrees, but he’s too young to vote. He flies aeroplanes, but he’s too young to drive a car alone.

Life is filled with contrasts for Mr Cavalin, a 17-year-old from San Gabriel, California, who has dashed by major milestones as his age seems to lag behind. He graduated from community college at age 11. Four years later, he had a bachelor’s in maths from the University of California, Los Angeles.

This year, he started online classes to get a master’s in cybersecurity through the Boston area’s Brandeis University. He decided to postpone that pursuit for a couple of terms, though, while he helps Nasa develop surveillance technology for aeroplanes and drones.

Between all that, he’s racked up an exhausting list of extra-curricular feats. He just published his second book, drawing on his experience being bullied and stories he’s heard from others. He plans to have his airplane pilot’s licence by the year’s end. At his family’s home near Los Angeles, he has a trove of trophies from martial arts tournaments.

Still, Mr Cavalin insists that he’s more ordinary than people think. He credits his parents for years of focused instruction balanced by the freedom to pick his after-school activities. His eclectic interests stem from his cultural heritage, he said, with a mother from Taiwan and a father from Brazil.

“My case isn’t that special. It’s just a combination of parenting and motivation and inspiration,” he said after a recent shift at Nasa’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. “I tend to not compare myself that often to other people. I just try to do the best I can.”

His parents say he was always a quick study. At four months, he pointed to a jet in the sky and said the Chinese word for airplane, his first word. Mr Cavalin hit the limits of his home schooling after studying trigonometry at the age of seven. Then his mother started driving him to community college.

“I think most people just think he’s a genius, they believe it just comes naturally,” said Daniel Judge, a professor of mathematics who taught Mr Cavalin for two years at East Los Angeles College. “He actually worked harder than, I think, any other student I’ve ever had.”

But his rapid rise hasn’t been without twists. Early in college, he dreamed of being an astrophysicist. When he started taking advanced physics classes, though, his interest waned. His fascination in cryptography led him towards computer science.

That has been a better fit, Mr Cavalin says. He was surprised when Nasa called to offer work after rejecting him in the past because of his age. Ricardo Arteaga, his boss and mentor at Nasa, says the teenager was perfect for a project that combines maths, computers and aircraft technology.

“I needed an intern who knew software and knew mathematical algorithms,” Mr Arteaga says. “And I also needed a pilot who could fly it on a Cessna.”

In the office, Mr Cavalin is a quiet worker with a subtle sense of humour, Mr Arteaga says. They laugh about the stuff scientists laugh about. His daily work at Nasa has included running simulations of aeroplanes and drones that are headed for collision, and then finding ways to route them to safety.

“He’s really sharp in mathematics,” Mr Arteaga says. “What we’re trying to bring out more is his intuitive skills.”

In conversation, Mr Cavalin speaks with the even cadence and diction of someone who chooses his words with care. He’s unflappable, at least until he discusses his distaste for being called a certain word: “One word I don’t take too kindly is genius,” he says. “Genius is just kind of taking it too far.”

After he finishes his master’s from Brandeis, Mr Cavalin hopes to get a master’s in business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Later, he wants to start his own cybersecurity company.

For now, though, he’s counting down the days until his 18th birthday, when he’ll be able to get a full driver’s licence under California law. Living away from home to work at Nasa, he relies on his landlord for rides to the grocery store, or he takes a taxi. His older colleagues drive him to work every day.

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