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| 01-26-2005 | Previous edition: 01-25-2005 |
        
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Printer-friendly version Purdue engineering graduate now studies at Stanford at age 17By Julie GlaserTraining Editor At the age of one, Chris McNett asked if he could read a bedtime story to his father. "He took the book from us and he read it without any mistakes," said John McNett. "They call it spontaneous reading." This moment was when John realized his son was different. "That was a clue," he joked. He could not imagine, however, the astounding academic achievements his son would accomplish before the age of 18. In December 2003, Chris became Purdue’s youngest engineering graduate at the age of 16, graduating with a 3.97 in computer engineering. Now 17, he is a master’s student in computer science at Stanford University. The decision for Chris to come to Purdue at the age of 13 was entirely his own, as was his decision to attend Stanford. After he completed eighth grade at the Sycamore School in Indianapolis, a school for academically gifted students, there was nothing in a high school curriculum that he hadn’t already done. Chris, who is from Indianapolis, decided to look at Purdue as his next option because he thought the material would be more challenging. Purdue also offered him a full ride for his top-10 placement in a statewide math competition. Chris said he doesn’t know if he missed out by skipping high school. "A lot of people tell me I missed the high school social scene. Given that’s what everybody tells me I missed, it makes me think that high school would have been a bit of a waste." John said his son has always wanted to stay challenged and make it through his education as quickly as possible in order to move on to bigger things. That’s why, at the age of 12, Chris spent a two-week spring break studying a chemistry textbook so he could test out of first-semester chemistry at Purdue. He did so easily and without ever having had a high school chemistry course. "Some of the things he can do are just breathtaking," said John. Like the time a Purdue professor told him about his freshman engineering project. Chris asked the professor if any other students had tried to do the project by using Fourier analysis, a mathematical strategy created by a French mathematician. Surprised, his professor responded no. The other freshman engineering students had not studied that yet, the professor said. But yes, that would be the best way to complete the project. "I don’t know where he learned about Fourier analysis," said John. Just like he doesn’t know how McNett learned to speak, read or write code. When other kids his age were learning the alphabet, Chris was fixing a computer that belonged to a friend’s parent by writing new code for a critical Microsoft system file. "He’s been able to write advanced code since the age of 6," said John. Computers have always been Chris's primary interest. "Most of what I do for fun involves computers or amateur radio or those kinds of things. I’m very fortunate that what I do for fun is also what I do for work," Chris said. He has already taken his computer knowledge from school and into the working world. When he was 13, he met with representatives from Microsoft at a Purdue job fair. They were impressed and offered to fly Chris and a parent to Redmond, Wash., to talk about an internship opportunity. This led Chris to a four-summer-long software development engineering internship with the company during which he worked on various projects, such as writing software for Windows XP. Last summer, when Chris was 17, he drove himself out to Washington. He was driving out and living on his own for the first time in an apartment with roommates he met through Microsoft. He drove for about 30 hours and stopped in Billings, Mont., to get a motel room for the night. He then realized that motels do not rent rooms to people less than 18 years old. "It was sort of an interesting wrinkle," said John. "Here he is in Billings, Mont., he’s been driving for 30 hours and his mother had to call around Billings to find a hotel that would take him based on her say so." Forty minutes later, Chris's mother, Susan McNett, found a Holiday Inn where he could stay. Chris is now living on his own at Stanford in an apartment that is part of the school’s graduate student housing. Chris hasn’t met any other students at Stanford his age. He said his age usually isn’t an issue with other students, though. At Purdue, he spent a good amount of time helping senior electrical engineering students with their senior design projects even though he wasn’t enrolled in the course. Barrett Robinson, a senior research engineer for computer and electrical engineering at Purdue, said all the students wanted Chris on their team. "He usually challenged them," said Robinson. "Some he had to virtually re-educate. He tried to get them to the point they could do their own design." When Chris graduates from the master’s program at Stanford in 2006, he isn’t yet sure what he is going to do, but he knows it will involve computers. He is considering getting his PhD if he finds research that interests him. If not, he might look for a job he likes or start his own business. When asked how he can describe the pride he and his wife feel toward their son’s academic giftedness, John is quick to say it isn’t really pride. "Any parent is as proud of their child for graduation no more so and no less so than we are," he said. "Any parent would be proud of their son for graduating with a 3.97 GPA. We’re proud of his accomplishments. It’s totally irrelevant that he did it at a particular age. If you take age out of the equation, it’s the merit of what he’s done that matters. It doesn’t matter that he graduated early; what matters is that he makes good contributions to society." His parents have been careful to guard him from too much media exposure to help his teen years be as uncomplicated as possible. They once even turned down an interview with Dan Rather. As much as Chris's diploma from Purdue at 16 and his acceptance to Stanford, John remembers and is proud of each spelling bee, science fair and concert — he plays the marimba — that his son has ever participated in. "You get in trouble if you try to reward doing things at a young age. It is sort of a hollow thing that goes away when you get older, but if you are proud of accomplishments for their own merit, that sticks with you. "Whether you get a perfect SAT score in math at the age of 12 or 18 doesn’t matter. What matters is that he had a remarkable score." Printer-friendly version |
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