San Carlos Teen Conducts High-Level Research in Israel

When he wasn’t swimming, shooting hoops or playing cards with friends, Dylan Roof of San Carlos, California, a senior at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, spent the summer working on advanced space research with a liberal dose of “Mother Goose” in the mix.

Dylan, 17, was among 44 teens from nine U.S. states as well as Israel, Europe and Canada to participate in SciTech, a three-week international science and technology research camp, now in its 20th year, at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. He conducted theoretical modeling to design a prototype of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle that could refuel another while both are in flight. He and his partners won the first place prize for presentation of their research at the close of the SciTech program.

“I really loved this program. I hadn’t been exposed to actual research before SciTech, and it was a great way to confirm that this was something I really want to do later in life,” says Dylan,

Dylan’s interest in science was peaked at an early age, as both parents are both scientists (his mom works at Stanford Medical Center and his dad works for Genentech). At Sequoia High School, Dylan is captain of the Sequoia Robotics Team, and on the leadership team of FIRST Team 100, which is comprised of students from three high schools in the area. He also plays trombone in the school’s symphonic and jazz bands and is the Line Captain of the school drum line.  As a freshman and sophomore, he played on the school’s baseball and soccer teams, and as a junior played badminton.