Engineering a bright future

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Last year, when he was only a freshman at the Waldorf School, Malvernite Owen Chernoff took the SAT, seeking an opportunity to qualify for entry into Duke University’s 2017 summer program, “Computer Skills for Today’s Scientists and Engineers.” Students are required to score at least a 650 on either the Math or Language Arts section of the SAT for Duke’s very competitive program.

Chernoff, 14 at the time, easily reached that goal and, earlier this month, completed the intensive three-week course, which focused on teaching students to develop code and database structures to facilitate engineering projects.

As part of the program, Chernoff completed 110 hours of coursework, attending classes six days a week. For his database and analysis projects, he used J, MySQL, and Python code bases. The course also involved tests and presentations in various projects.

A natural engineer who is rebuilding a car engine in his garage during his off hours, Chernoff has participated in similar engineering programs in the past offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Boston Leadership Institute.

Chernoff plans on pursuing both electrical and mechanical engineering career in his very bright future.