Fresh Out of High School, Gavin Ovsak Has Already Established Himself as an Inventor to Watch

By Gavin Ovsak (2011) | I’m a tech-savvy teenager and I’ve got big dreams. I’m convinced that in the long term, I want to make a lasting impact by enhancing people’s lives with technology. The technology that interests me most is in the realms of biomedical devices and computer science software.

I spent a good portion of my senior year of high school working on a submersible water turbine design project for my second year at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles. As it turned out, my two biggest summer adventures were a direct result of competing in the science fair this year.

My first adventure kicked off when I was presented with the Medtronic Sponsor Award at the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair (which selects two people to go to ISEF). I seized the opportunity to ask someone for a tour to learn more about the Medtronic Foundation. After a couple of visits, I started wondering if it would be possible for me to work in this incredible business and asked about an internship. A few days later, I was amazed to get an interview with a vice president of Medtronic and to land an internship!

The summer has flown by and I’m just finishing my internship now. I’ve been very busy working full-time with Medtronic engineers and have gained a lot of valuable biomedical experience along the way.

My second big adventure began before the summer started, when I found out through Google news about Google’s first-ever Global Online Science Fair. I loved how Google put their own twist on the competition and accepted websites rather than essays or tri-folds for submissions. This way, anyone in the world could “attend” the science fair to see people’s projects just by going online.

After the initial judging rounds, I found out that I was one of 15 finalists chosen to compete (in person) at the Google headquarters. It was my dream come true—not only because fellow “Googlers” would be judging me, but also because world-renowned scientists and inventors that I admired were involved, too. I was not selected as one of the top 3 grand winners, but I felt extremely lucky to meet all of the judges and other 14 finalists. We had a great time getting to know each other during a very exciting weekend.

Also this summer, I developed an Android app called “Watch Out,” which acts as a wearable virtual 3D watch. Look it up in the Android Market!

Now that my summer is almost over, I will be heading to Duke University for my first year of pursuing a double major in biomedical engineering and computer science. However, I am already getting excited for next summer, when I will be taking classes at Oxford University through my Angier B. Duke Scholarship from Duke University. I haven’t decided what classes I want to take there, but I might take the opportunity to branch out a bit into some new areas.

With my trip abroad matching up with the London 2012 Olympics, I hope I might even meet up with a couple of Coca-Cola Scholars while I’m in Europe!

Gavin Ovsak is a 2011 Coca-Cola Scholar from Hopkins, Minnesota. He graduated from Eden Prairie High School and will be attending Duke University this fall. You can read more about his activities at www.workbygavin.com.