MEET: Alia Sabur: The World's Youngest Professor

Alia Sabur (born February 22, 1989 in New York City, New York) is an American materials scientist and attorney. She holds the record for being the world's youngest professor.

The youngest university professor is Alia Sabur (USA, b. 22 February 1989), who was appointed as a full-time faculty Professor of the Department of Advanced Technology Fusion at Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea, with effect from 19 February 2008, aged 18 years 362 days.

Sabur's mother, Julie Sabur (born Kessler), worked as a reporter for News12 Long Island until 1995.She married Mohammed Sabur, a Pakistani native, in 1980. Alia, born on February 22, 1989, showed early signs of giftedness. She tested "off the IQ scale," according to an educator who tested her as a first-grader.[1] As a fourth-grader, she left public school and was admitted to State University of New York at Stony Brook at the age of 10, later graduating summa cum laude at 14. She also received a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 9.

On 19 February 2008, at 18 years of age (3 days before her 19th birthday), she was appointed to the position of International Professor as Research Liaison with Stony Brook University by the Dept. of Advanced Technology Fusion at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea. The position was a temporary, one-year contract which she chose not to renew. The Guinness Book of World Records named Sabur the World's Youngest Professor.

She began her position at the Department of Advanced Technology Fusion at Konkuk University in June 2008 and returned to her hometown of New York early 2009, without renewing her contract.