Alex Power, a 16-year-old graduate of Cedar Falls High School, was in Washington, D.C., Wednesday accepting a $10,000 scholarship and discussing education with politicians.
Power was one of 17 young people honored by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development at an awards ceremony. He also was set to discuss the challenges faced by extremely intelligent children with Sen. Charles Grassley and staff members for the office of Congressman Jim Nussle.
"The education system is geared more to making sure everyone can get to a certain level than everyone getting to the best level they can," Power said in a phone call from the Capitol. "It's not geared toward pushing you more."
Along with Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, Grassley held a reception Wednesday evening at the Library of Congress to honor the students.
As one of only 12 Davidson Fellows selected from across the country, Power was recognized at a Davidson Fellows Award ceremony at the Library of Congress where he was presented with a $10,000 scholarship for his project titled "On Chromatic: Polynomials and the Properties of their Chromatic Growth Ratios."
Five Davidson Fellow Laureates each received $50,000 scholarships.
In 2001, the Davidson Institute established the Davidson Fellows Award to recognize gifted young people under the age of 18 for innovative breakthroughs and prodigious works in the fields of science, technology mathematics, music, literature or philosophy that will contribute to society.
Power explored advanced theories and problems in graph theory specifically in chromatic growth ratios and chromatic polynomials. Significant applications of Power's results include future mathematics and graph theory research, communication networks, robotic vision systems and the expansion of the Internet.
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