Boca math whiz, 18, earns master's degree from FAU and heads to Princeton

Arie Israel isn't your typical doctoral candidate.

He doesn't have a bachelor's degree.

He never received a high school diploma.

In fact, he's barely old enough to vote.

But today, on his 18th birthday, the Boca Raton whiz kid will get his master's degree in mathematics from Florida Atlantic University. And next month, he will attend Princeton University, where he will enroll in a math Ph.D. program. One of the world's top mathematicians recommended him for the program.

Israel is one of the youngest students, and possibly the youngest, to earn a master's degree from FAU during its 41-year history. University officials said they'd have to do extensive research to confirm that.

But Israel doesn't see his accomplishment as any extraordinary feat.

"I never thought of myself as more advanced or better than anyone else," he said. "I just wanted to learn."

The prodigy started taking classes at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton at 14. His professors soon realized his mathematical skills far exceeded those of the average undergraduate. They made the unusual move of placing him in a graduate-degree program.

"The system is not set up for people of that age," FAU President Frank Brogan said. "When you do see on rare occasion someone with that level of capability, you have to bend the process to allow for it."

Israel's education has been non-traditional in almost every way. He grew up in Princeton, N.J. and Boca Raton, but never attended a regular school. His parents home schooled both him and his older sister, Rachel, allowing them to work at their own pace and discover their own interests. His dad, Benjamin, a computer programmer, helped him with math and science, while his mom, Rebekah, taught him English and history.

Arie Israel has loved math for as long as he can remember and, as a young child, read two math books every year. By 13, he completed high school calculus.

He continued learning upper-level math through online classes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And he kept reading more math textbooks. But soon, he longed for a classroom setting.

"I bought a book on vector calculus, and I started reading it and wasn't able to move through it," he said. "The math was getting at a higher level. I realized I could get a lot more out of a teacher than studying by myself."

So, in the spring of 2003, at 14, he entered FAU through a dual-enrollment program. This state program allows advanced, high school-aged students to take college classes for free. He wasn't on a degree track but was just taking isolated math classes that interested him.

One of his professors, Yoram Sagher, took an interest in Israel and guided him through his studies. At first, Sagher wanted him to pursue a bachelor's degree, but Israel wasn't interested in taking English, history or foreign language classes. Israel and his parents subscribed to the school of thought that students should focus on what interests them.

Another complicating factor was that Israel had no academic record. He didn't even qualify for a GED, because he wasn't 16, Sagher said.

Not wanting to lose Israel, Sagher persuaded university officials to admit him into the master's program.

"I went to a dean and said `Ten years from now, this guy will be a professor at Princeton. Do you want FAU to get credit?'" Sagher said. "The hallmark of a good university is not that it has good rules. It's that it makes good exceptions."

Sagher arranged for Israel to meet his longtime friend, Charles Fefferman, 57, a Princeton math professor. Fefferman was a prodigy who earned his Ph.D. from Princeton at 20. At 22, he became the youngest person ever appointed as a full professor. He won the Field Medal, the math equivalent of the Nobel Prize, at 28.

Fefferman tested Israel and determined that his knowledge and understanding of real analysis, a rigorous version of calculus, was that of a second-year Princeton graduate student. Fefferman then wrote a letter of recommendation. He could not be reached for comment.

While a graduate student, Israel started working as a teaching assistant at 15. At first, it was awkward, he said."They would talk in class, and I didn't have enough courage to say, `Stop talking or get out,'" he said. "After that, I didn't tell them how old I was, and I think they just assumed I was 18 or 19."

He may be a mathematical genius, but in other ways, Israel is a regular kid who loves playing baseball and watching the Miami Heat.

"He has very nice social graces," Sagher said. "He's a remarkable all-American boy."

By Scott Travis

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Education Writer

Posted August 11 2006.

Scott Travis can be reached at stravis@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6637.