College life begins at 7: Tanishq Abraham at TEDxSacramento

Tanishq Abraham is a nine-year-old college student at American River College in Sacramento. He was a Mensa member at just four years old, a Davidson Young Scholar at age six and a college student at age seven! He has published astronomy articles on the NASA website and is the founding vice president of the Astronomy and Physics Club at American River College. Tanishq has been giving college and public talks since he was seven, including the Earth Day talks at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. He was the youngest poster presenter and speaker at a NASA conference at NASA Ames in 2012. This year, he was a guest panelist for SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas and the inaugural video speaker at the 10th Skoll World Forum at the University of Oxford. When he's not attending college, being home-schooled by his parents, writing papers or giving presentations, Tanishq's passions include chess, swimming, dancing, and soccer. Musically inclined, he has received formal training in piano since he was three and is a chorister with the San Francisco Boys Chorus.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)