The North Attleboro student has his medical career in his sights local news

If you’re skeptical about the claims of science, the wonders of medicine, or even the challenges posed by nuclear power, Aakash Sunkari, of North Attleboro, would love to speak to you.

He can even convince you.

And while he is planning a career in medicine, his real profession is being an evangelist for science. “Education is the main thing,” says Sunkari.

The North Attleboro High School senior has received multiple awards for his science work during his middle school academic career. Most recently, this was the grand prize of this year’s Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair officially honored at the city council meeting on Monday.

The 18-year-old Sunkari has an impressive résumé even before graduating. It starts with the declaration: “I am an inventor.”

And his project for the science fair must have appeared sufficiently impressive to the judges.

As the title shows, the direct conversion of energy in a portable, high-energy quantum nuclear reactor based on an electrohydrodynamic power cell is quite forward-looking.

In his own description, “My research is focused on developing a portable nuclear reactor – one no bigger than your average physics textbook – yet capable of producing hundreds of megawatts of high amount of energy. Using Monte Carlo simulation methods with the help of the GEANT4 software developed by CERN, I developed a new artificial nuclear reaction to generate large amounts of electrical energy through nuclear reactions on a smaller scale. “

If a hand-held nuclear reactor gives you a break, it’s one thing Sunkari would love to explain with his public speaking skills. Yes, in addition to his science degree, he was on the North Debate Team. “It kind of boosted my confidence.” (He was also involved in student government and ran for the Rockeeters Track and Cross Country).

According to Sunkari, people fear nuclear energy because of some high profile accidents from Three Mile Island to Fukishima in Japan. “If you look at all of these disasters, it’s because people were insecure. Nuclear energy is the safest of all energy sources, ”he says.

“Educating the public a little bit about nuclear energy,” he says, is one of his goals. (It was also an early topic of discussion at the Harvard Debate Forum, which he attended.) In some European countries, nuclear energy is the main source of power. You understand, he says. In America, “It is not widely spoken of in everyday life. Education is the main thing and opens a conversation about what nuclear energy is. “

Science belongs to the Sunkari family. His mother Madhavi is a freelance software engineer and his father Ramakrishna is also a software engineer.

And Aakash was interested all along. He started a science club at the Richards Memorial Library.

However, he is pursuing a career in medicine and selects the University of Alabama at Birmingham for his medical degree.

While gaining admission to a few better-known schools, he chose UAB for a number of reasons. On the one hand, the school has a program with which he can acquire a bachelor’s and master’s degree in four years. On the other hand, he notes, “I will be going to school for eight or more years.” Since UAB took him fully with it and selected him for an honors program, he can save tuition for one of the more high-profile medical schools. (And yes, his parents are very proud.) Finally, he took classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology while he was still in school.

One of these courses, a modern physics course, took him towards medicine. “The human body is a complex machine for how these tiny molecules come together and create life.”

In the end, he contemplates a career in clinical medicine, “but I’ll still want to do research on my own.” And to educate the public too.

He is currently interested in the topic of how the body’s own antibodies – instead of radiation or chemotherapy – can be used to fight cancer.

Do you think that is unlikely? Aakash Sunkari might want to raise you. He can even give you an argument.

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