Kairan Quazi, a recent graduate of Santa Clara University (SCU), will be moving to Redmond, Washington, with his mother to take on a new job at SpaceX. Speaking to CBS News, he expressed his excitement about joining SpaceX, stating that it is "one of the few companies that doesn't judge my ability and maturity based on my age." SpaceX, for its part, will not need to apply for a special permit to hire this prodigy, as Kairan is old enough to work under Washington state law.

California Governor Gavin Newsom met with Kairan Quazi at the inauguration of Santa Clara University's STEM Research Center in 2021. Photo: CBS News

Kairan was born in Pleasanton, California, to parents of Bangladeshi descent. His mother, Julia Quazi, noticed his exceptional intelligence when he was just two years old. With his extraordinary intellect, Kairan passed numerous advanced placement tests after completing third grade and qualified for a community college at age nine. Just two years later, he was granted special admission to SCU, where he spent considerable time interning at Intel Corporation as an artificial intelligence researcher. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering degree from SCU, Kairan became the youngest graduate in the university's 172-year history.

At SpaceX, Kairan was appointed to the engineering team at Starlink, the company's satellite broadband internet service. The Starlink system is designed to provide high-speed internet to customers anywhere on Earth using thousands of broadband relay stations in multiple low Earth orbits.

HIEN MINH