Freshman Kennesaw State student has unprecedented success in research

by Fulton Watch News Feed

[This article by Amanda Cook first appeared on the Kennesaw State University website, republished with permission. Photo by Matthew Yung]

Most people know someone with a “go-getter” personality – that person who is energetic and determined to be successful. There might not be a person who better encompasses the idea of being a go-getter than Kennesaw State University student Tahsin Kazi.

While still a junior at Woodstock High School, he started emailing professors at Kennesaw State asking to join a research team. It was through that outreach that Kazi was connected to Maria Valero, an assistant professor of information technology in KSU’s College of Computing and Software Engineering (CCSE).

It takes a lot to impress Valero, who has mentored, taught, and worked with hundreds of students. But none have stood out to her like Kazi.

“This is the first time someone contacted me before their senior year and without requesting any school credit,” she said. “This was the first time I’ve seen a student who was just trying to have this experience in research. I saw huge potential in him.”

While in high school, Kazi worked alongside Valero’s senior graduate students. The research team was focused on GlucoCheck, a device using light shown through a finger or an ear lobe to determine blood sugar level.

“My job was to improve the project and try different things to see what worked,” said Kazi, who is pursuing a degree in computer science. “I built different types of software for the device, and I tested them all, and I found some interesting conclusions.”

Valero said Kazi’s contributions were so good, they were able to publish a paper on the research while he was still a high school student – an impressive feat for someone so young.

“Kazi actually ended up being the first author of the paper, even over my graduate students,” Valero said.  “But it was because he was the one who made major contributions to that…

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