Akilan Sankaran
United States I 16
A sophomore at the Albuquerque Academy, Akilan Sankaran is a major award winner across several disciplines. In piano, he’s studied with Lawrence Blind at the New Mexico School of Music for nine years and regularly takes home first prize at state competitions; he has also performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Verbier Festival (which he attended last year on a full scholarship as the only junior pianist), and Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Akilan is equally as committed to mathematics: he has conducted two in-depth research projects on undergraduate-level topics in number theory, which won him national and international competitions and a feature on NPR. He has competed on the state level in MathCounts (first prize) and cross country (top 20 runner); is a team member in Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, and Speech and Debate Competitions; and writes for his school newspaper.