Speedrun
A Belgian boy named Laurent Simons is on track to finish an undergraduate engineering degree this December, meaning he’ll graduate college at the ripe old age of nine.
The child prodigy has ambitious scientific goals — after pursuing an engineering doctorate and a medical degree, Simons’ parents told CNN that he wants to develop a way to grow artificial organs.
“The absorption of information is no problem for Laurent,” his dad told CNN. “I think the focus will be on research and applying the knowledge to discover new things.”
Accelerated Track
Eindhoven University of Technology, where Simons is on track to graduate next month, told CNN that offering accelerated programs for students who can handle them is par for the course, but that they’ve never had a student quite so young.
“Special students that have good reasons for doing so can arrange an adjusted schedule. In much the same way we help students who participate in top sport,” Sjoerd Hulshof, education director of the undergraduate electrical engineering program, told CNN.
“Laurent is the fastest student we have ever had here,” he added. “Not only is he hyper intelligent but also a very sympathetic boy.”
READ MORE: Nine-year-old child genius to graduate university [CNN]
More on lab-grown organs: To Heal Injured Astronauts, Experts Want to 3D Print “Skin, Bone and Body Parts”
