Pittsford teen making waves in scientific community
Unlike most people, Sujay Tyle enjoys working nights, weekends and even during vacations, mostly because he has to.
Hunched over books and computers, Tyle has spent countless hours over the last four years pouring through research and crunching numbers as a scientist at the University of Rochester.
His goal: develop a solution to the ever-growing energy problem that is depleting resources, causing gas prices to inflate and shrinking wallets.
Environmental issues are of the highest regard for Tyle, who wants to create a form of ethanol that will help ease our energy crisis and move the country into the next generation of fuel efficiency.
Now, if he could only get into an R-rated movie.
Tyle, 14, is a sophomore at Pittsford Mendon High School. While many of his peers may spend their extra time playing video games or chatting on the computer, Tyle has been spending his time studying bacteria that could lead to the development of ethanol fuels, an alternative biofuel that may help to reduce the use of gasoline and the United States' reliance on oil.
"I know that there's a solution out there and we're on the verge of finding it," said Tyle, who is also on the varsity tennis team at school, for which he's among the top players in Section V.
In May, Tyle placed second at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, N.M. at the world's largest pre-college science competition. His project for the event was a mouthful: "Genetic modification of clostridium thermocellum and thermoanaerobicbacterium saccharolyticum for efficient cellulose gradation and ethanol production."
His work helped him achieve another important milestone in his young academic career when he recently attended the first Forecast Earth Summit in Washington, D.C.
Hosted by the Weather Channel, the summit was a three-day event that focused on various environmental issues like global warming. Tyle was selected to take part in the summit along with 22 other high school students based on an essay he wrote explaining the work he's performing at the U of R.
In addition to a full schedule of speakers, discussions and hands-on activities, students at the Forecast Earth Summit worked to create a boat made entirely of recycled materials including more than 200 two-liter bottles and recycled wood products such as chairs, broomsticks. Students also worked to create their own public service announcements, which will run on the Weather Channel in 2008.
While at the summit, Tyle and the rest of the group got to rub elbows with a celebrity, too. They spent time with actress Hayden Panettiere of NBC's "Heroes." Panettiere is an avid environmentalist as well.
"I knew that she was famous, so it was awesome meeting her in-person," Tyle said. "Even though she's a star, she wants to help (the environment)."
Back home, the men who work with Tyle at the U of R believe the same thing of him. They said that they've been impressed with Tyle's dedication and ambitiousness since day one.
Dr. David Wu, a professor of biochemical engineering at the university, said the fact that Tyle has followed his passion since seventh grade is particularly impressive, considering it's becoming harder for young students to stay interested in math and science.
"Initally, I felt that I just wanted to give him a flavor of what reasrech in environmental and bio technology was about, but his ambtiion and motivation was beyond my oriingal assessment," he said. "Many science and technology innovations may go outside the country if we don't give young people good motivation and opportunities to do what they like to do."
Michael Newcomb, a doctoral student at the school who recently completed his course work, worked with Tyle and said that he was impressed with Tyle's persistance. Newcomb said with oil prices climbing and ethanol production rapidly increasing, Tyle's work is extremely important in a field that has scientists around the world trying to obtain similar goals.
"The sky's the limit with him," Newcomb said. "I wish I was exposed to a lot of this stuff when I was his age."
Following a year in which Tyle was named the top young scientist in the state by the Central Western Section in the New York State Science Congress, he still has more competitions coming up. And he has his usual summer schedule, when he works from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at least six days a week at the U of R.
Tyle would have it no other way, he said, pointing out what a great experience he's getting right now doing college-level work years before he'll step foot onto a university campus as a first-year student.
With so much accomplished already, it's hard to imagine the next big challenge for Tyle is something even bigger - getting his driver's license.
Brighton-Pittsford Post writer Bryan Roth can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 270, or at broth@mpnewspapers.com.