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Meet the 17-year-old who has two degrees, flies planes, and is deferring his master's to work at NASA

Prepare to feel envious.

ap-2-degrees-flies-planes-author-works-at-nasa.-his-age-17 This August 2014 photo provided by Shu Chien shows her son Moshe Kai Cavalin at the DEF CON 23 hacker's conference in Las Vegas. Shu Chien via AP 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 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 on-line classes to get a master’s in cyber-security 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 extracurricular 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 aeroplane pilot’s license by the year’s end. At his family’s home near Los Angeles, he has a trove of trophies from martial arts tournaments.

Still, 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 says 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.”

Space Shuttle AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

His parents say he was always a quick study. At 4 months, he pointed to a jet in the sky and said the Chinese word for airplane, his first word. Cavalin hit the limits of his home schooling after studying trigonometry at age 7. Then his mom 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 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 toward computer science.

That has been a better fit, Cavalin said. 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 Cavalin was perfect for a project that combines maths, computers and aircraft technology.

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

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

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

Airport Towers AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

In conversation, 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 said. “Genius is just kind of taking it too far.”

After he finishes his master’s from Brandeis, 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 license 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.

As for the other teenage stuff, Cavalin says he’ll wait until he gets his doctorate degree to find a girlfriend. He’s only half-joking.

Read: All-rounders with a thirst for knowledge: Ireland’s highest achievers in the 2015 Leaving Cert

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40 Comments
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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:21 AM

    We are so lucky to be living in Ireland, a country with such a successful vaccination rollout. So many other countries like Australia and New Zealand have an appallingly slow vaccination rollout, not to mention parts of Africa and South America. While the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, did such a good job of keeping her country virtually Covid free, her rollout of the vaccination programme has been incredibly slow.

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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:37 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: 915 deaths in Australia from COVID, all the while living mostly normal lives with a few lockdowns, none of which were as long as Ireland. Ireland has had 5,026 deaths which could be more due to the hack and has had restrictions for most of the last 18 months. So how is Ireland the lucky one!?

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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:55 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: your population is a fraction of the countries you mentioned in your comment. You’re 6 months into your vaccination program with less than half the country vaccinated. What’s so successful about it?

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    Mute Mac Muinteoir
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:55 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: you’re right, in a way, to recognise the fact that dumb luck has been a major factor in terms of availability of vaccines in different countries. I’m not sure the thousands of families in Ireland that have lost people to covid feel all that lucky though.

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:53 AM

    @The Guru: you actually believe that those figures are going to remain that low? They are on square 1, where we were back in March 2020, no natural immunity, no vaccines. It’s a lovely green field site for this virus. Lockdowns after lockdowns inbound until they get those vaccines out. Zero Covid is not possible.

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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:34 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: yeah poor New Zealand having their close to normal life for almost all of 2020 and a good chunk of 2021, while also having way less deaths than us.

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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:36 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: even if they are whwre we were at March 2020 will they have what will end up being 18 months of mostly strict restrictions? I doubt it. They got to live an almost normal life while we were shut. Once vaccination picks up they will start reopening and have had far shorter lockdowns than us with way less deaths. I’d have preferred to have their lives than our since last year

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:38 AM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: yeah but it’s like Alcatraz

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:44 AM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: yes great fun being stuck in Van Diemen’s land. Now they face thousands of deaths and months of rolling lockdowns if they don’t get this under control. Apart from being barred from dining indoors in 27 degree heat we’re free to do what we want, we’re largely vaccinated, our health system is reasonably well insulated, we can travel. I’d take our position any day right now over what’s happening there. They’ve tried to create an Alcatraz and keep the virus out. They’ve failed.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:54 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: We can thank the European Union for any success.

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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 11:23 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: absolute nonsense. Their zero covid policy is what has kept lockdowns to a minimum. The largest outbreak is in Sydney because they waited too long. Melbourne will be out within 2 weeks. Saying they’ve no vaccines is also wrong. They have done 13% fully and 20% one dose and are doing over a million a week. In reality they’re about 2 months behind Ireland.

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 11:26 AM

    @The Guru: the Australians latest wave will be very difficult to suppress this time and lockdowns will be less and less effective. The numbers of anti vaxxers/ vaccine hesitant is very high as well
    Expect big numbers of cases and deaths in the mostly unvaccinated population

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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:31 PM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: they paid the price of imprisonment.. no one in.. nobody out..

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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:35 PM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: it’s like a delayed pandemic there now..
    Australians in general weren’t getting the news updates from Europe or USA when we were in the middle of our mayhem and now they are surprised at the recent surges. They were made to believe they were safe.. but Delta had other plans….
    It’s kicking off now… delta is on a roll even with lockdown. No vaccines, mass confusions, a society who don’t necessarily adhere to the very strictly implemented restrictions.

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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:37 PM

    @GrumpyAulFella: absolutely… A pandemic makes no exception!

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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:42 PM

    @Dave Harris: how do we measure the number of anti-vaxxers / vaccine hesitant before the roll-out is even complete?

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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:55 PM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: I’m talking about their vaccination programme being so slow that my brother who is in his 60s thinks he won’t be vaccinated until close to the end of the year. New Zealand is locked down to foreign travel in or out apart from the bubble they had with Australia which is now closed. My brother is waiting to meet his youngest grandchild born in Australia just before the pandemic.

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:20 PM

    @Dave McHugh: The big problem for Aus & NZ is that it has categorically been proven that zero covid lockdown strategies don’t work – they’re good at suppressing the virus but not ending a pandemic. The vaccines, while really good, are not perfect. So now they have a situation that means that once everyone’s vaccinated and they do open up, the virus will spread through the population, albeit a vaccinated one. BUT people are still going to die. At much lower rates – but it will happen.
    Take a rate of 0.25% death among vaccinated people over 40 and account for 10m Australians being over 40 and that’s 25,000 deaths – or 25x the total deaths under zero covid – hard lockdown – strategy. In NZ the figure given same would be roughly 5,000 deaths. There’s no escaping this.

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:23 PM

    @Quoka: The politicians there know this and I would guess always knew it – they were hoping for a therapeutic rather than a vaccine. Now which of them is going to vaccinate to the point where they have to stop yoyoing lockdowns because “everyone’s vaccinated” and open up knowing that more people will die when this happens than ever did during their first approach. It’s a sword none of them want to fall on.

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:25 PM

    @Quoka: They’re both stalling – ScoMo and Ardern.

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    Mute Elaine Phelan
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:43 PM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: I agree. There was a segment on covid in Africa, specifically Zambia, on the channel 4 news tonight. It’s absolutely bleak and they are begging for vaccines. We are so privileged to live in a first world country and be part of the EU vaccine procurement

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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 12:47 AM

    @Quoka: so according to your 0.25% death rate, one in every 400 vaccinated people will still contract, and die from, covid.
    Where did you get this stat from?

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    Mute Lisa Rogers
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:46 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: no it’s not

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 8:06 AM

    @Dave McHugh: Recorded case fatality rate in Australia x the average of the reported AstraZeneca and Pfizer protection rates. The fact that the virus hasn’t already swathed through populations there already, particularly 65+ and those with underlying conditions, means it would likely be higher.

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    Mute Dave McHugh
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 9:31 AM

    @Quoka: I know how to do the maths, I’m curious to know where you’re getting the reported protection rate from?

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    Mute Ronan O Connor
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:14 AM

    Aussies too cool and superior to be vaccinated no? !

    84
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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:58 AM

    @Ronan O Connor: too complacent in NSW as virus didnt impact until Delta appeared. Then there was/is a rush for Pfeizer. Astra plentiful but reluctance to take up due to clotting issue.

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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:23 AM

    Yes they made a balls of the vaccine programme by mainly ordering Astra but that’s easy to say in hindsight. The article says they won’t get much Pfizer before the end of the year which is not correct as they’re already doing over 1m a week and it’s ramping up even more. They’ll be in the same position as the rest of the world by Oct/Nov.

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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:41 PM

    @The Guru: Unfortunately it depends where in Australia you are.. if in Western Australia you’ll get Pfeizer, but not in NSW where Astra is abundant.
    The aged and at risk haven’t been looked after..in most states. The federal government has only so- much say in how the rollout happens even with a Vaccination Commander!

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 1:37 PM

    @The Guru: No, they won’t. Politically, it’ll be a circus. Vaccination wise perhaps, but the citizenry was sold a zero covid strategy that included quick and hard lockdowns that are effective at suppressing the virus but not ending a pandemic. And it worked really well. The people bought in. But it’s nothing but a stall & damage limitation exercise when it comes to exiting the pandemic. The problem now is when the population is vaccinated & no one will want to lockdown, the virus will still be there spreading & it will kill people – at greatly reduced rates, but also at multiples of their original zero covid policy. So the politician that reopens up is going to fall on a big sword doing so as the death figures will far surpass what they’ve experienced to date. ScoMo & Ardern know this.

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    Mute Lina Stein
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:16 PM

    The Australian government pit all their eggs in the one basket, namely the development of their own vaccine- CSL and this failed leaving the population without sufficient vaccines. Prior to the CSL failing, the government didn’t see the need to order Pfeizer/Moderna as they believed Australia to be safe with closed borders, excellent contact tracing, etc.. The Delta varient, unfortunately for all Aussies is now catching up on lost cases even in lockdown.
    Add to this, nobody wants to take the Astra as the press are still pushing the ‘fear’ button and have created a state of confusion and panic..

    To read more about failed vaccine
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-55269381

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    Mute Tomo
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:56 AM

    We’d be in that position if not for the EU.

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    Mute yell cub
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 12:00 PM

    @Tomo: we are part of the EU, it’s not some mystical entity handing out baubles to the unfortunate. It’s a collective, of which we we are an equal member

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