Angela Zhang at TEDxSanJose Talks About Her Love of Books

could possibly be Cupertino’s newest celebrity, and she just graduated from Monta Vista High School. Before the school year ended she was a speaker at TEDxSanJoseCA “Pay it Forward” where she talked about her love of books and how that correlates to her love of science.

Worldwide attention was thrust upon the graduating senior when she was awarded a $100,000 scholarship in the 2011 Siemens Math, Science and Technology competition for her achievements in cancer research. She’s been interviewed by the likes of CNN, ABC and CBS—and —. And let's not ignore the coverage she got from .

She’s won more than 20 regional, state, national and international science fairs, and it was the project she started in 9th grade, the one she put in more than 1,000 after-school hours in research time, that led her to bug—and keep bugging until she got a yes, she says in the TEDx video—a Stanford University School of Medicine professor to agree to her ideas and pursuits of her nanoparticle cancer busting project.

Her research led her to develop a targeted attack on cancer cells—something she refers to as a "Swiss Army knife of cancer treatment"—while keeping unharmed healthy cells. It's a ways off in actual patient trial stages but has people excited about the possibilities. 

Zhang’s fame on Cupertino Patch will no doubt continue as it looks like she’s destined to become a hometown hero.

The video of Zhang speaking at TEDxSanJoseCA attached to this article is just under 10 minutes.