Prodigy Yuan Wins Medals in Three International Competitions This Summer

August 16, 2010 

The 17-year-old Detroit Country Day student has had an award-winning, travel-filled summer 2010.

In June he was in Washington, D.C., for the USAMO Awards Ceremony. The top scorer of this year’s USAMO, Yuan received the Samuel L. Greitzer/Murray S. Klamkin Award for Mathematical Excellence and a $20,000 scholarship from Akamai Foundation during the ceremony. 

Yuan and Steve Dunbar, Director of MAA American Mathematics Competitions at 2010 USAMO Awards Ceremony

In early July, he traveled to Kazakhstan as a member of the U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad team. There he garnered a silver medal.

Later in the month, he traveled to Stockholm and won a silver medal at the International Linguistics Olympiad.

Then in early August, Yuan was awarded a gold medal for his performance in the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition, in Rochester, NY. Yuan, who played the allegro ma non tanto movement from Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, accompanied by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, also received $5,000 and a full-tuition scholarship to the Eastman School (upon satisfaction of admission requirements).

Summer officially ends September 23; Yuan has plenty of time for another accomplishment or two—nearby or not.

Source: Hometown Life (August 15, 2010)

Watch Yuan play the piano after the USAMO Award Ceremony