Child's Play

“When I was four or five years old, my parents were like ‘there’s something different here,’” said Jackrel, who enrolled at Hofstra at just 15. “My parents knew they had to get me out of there.” 

So, the Jackrels quickly transferred him to the Long Island School for the Gifted. There, Jason excelled academically and by his senior year of high school, had skipped grades eight, 10 and 11 before graduating from his town’s public high school.  

In other words, he completed high school in two years flat – state requirements and Advanced Placement exams included.  

“All Jason ever talked about growing up were computers and cars, but it was a lot easier to tinker with computers back then,” Amy Jackrel said. “By the time he was 10, we had exhausted pretty much every computer class offered for kids. So, we started looking for classes that weren’t for kids, but he might be able to take.” 

This led to the young Jackrel’s first taste of college. He took computer science classes through Hofstra’s Continuing Education program. 

“Hofstra adult ed was the start of his acceleration,” said Amy Jackrel. He took a programing language course alongside adults looking to brush up on their computer skills. “And there is the 10-year-old, learning Visual Basic two nights a week. He loved it.” 

By 12, Jackrel was taking non-matriculated computer science and calculus classes at Suffolk Community College.

“Three years of shuttling him to college campuses two night a week, and one high school diploma later – he started full time at Hofstra at 15,” Amy Jackrel said. By the time he was ready to start college, he had earned more than 30 college credits.

Jackrel and his parents settled on Hofstra because of its proximity to their home and the reputation of the DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The Jackrels knew Jason could handle it, they just had to convince the University, said Andrea Nadler, Jackrel’s admission counselor.

“His parents were so earnest about his readiness for college, but our deans weren’t so sure that we could admit someone so young,” Nadler said. Jackrel’s academic successes and maturity turned the tide.

“I remembered the show ‘Doogie Howser, M.D.’ with a child prodigy and thought how cool that we have a prodigy at my alma mater in Nassau County,” she said. “Jason is destined for greatness and will make us very proud as an alumnus.”

From the first semester to graduation, he has continued to impress faculty, staff and students.

“Every conversation I have had with him only increased my appreciation of his abilities and his enthusiasm,” said Dr. Krishnan Pillaipakkamnatt, chair of the computer science department. “His curiosity, inventiveness and persistence will take him very far – of that I have no doubt.”

Even though he will certainly be the youngest student walking across the stage this year, Jackrel said that many faculty and students either don’t know or don’t care how old he is.

“As a freshman, when I was talking to the seniors,” he said, “they didn’t care too much. I was just seen as the little brother who knows everything.”

Since July 2019, Jackrel and Dr. Jianchen Shan have conducted research with the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium that could be used as a stepping stone to find innovative ways for programmers to optimize large computers like the ones found at Google or Amazon. In March 2021, their work was published by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

Image

“Jason is young but prudent and capable,” said Dr. Shan, also a computer science professor. “His thoroughness ensured the correctness and accuracy of the experimental data. His talent and maturity beyond his years make him a promising engineer and researcher.”

Aside from his scholarly pursuits, Jackrel is an entrepreneur too, setting up shop in his home garage. He lived on campus for two years but moved back home during his senior year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am always tinkering with something. It could be anything,” said Jackrel.

He is the creator and owner of Nimo Lights, a company that produces light-up necklaces programmed to react to sound or synchronize with other devices. He has also retrofitted his Hover-1 electric scooter, his preferred mode of transportation around Hofstra’s campus, with lights for a personalized flair. Jackrel did the circuitry by hand, similarly to his Nimo Lights necklace, and created some of the apparatus’ parts using his 3D printer at home.

In his limited free time, Jackrel restores devices from 20th century personal computers to slot machines.

“I pretty much run a museum out of my room,” Jackrel said. He is currently working on modernizing a 1940s television with HDMI compatibility so that he can watch “The Twilight Zone” reruns on the same kind of TV that viewers did when the show originally aired. His favorite project to date is the Commodore PET, an earlier model personal computer to which he has devoted three years for its full restoration.

“I just don’t want to be in a cubicle,” he said, “I want to be building stuff.”

When asked what advice he would give to younger incoming students, Jackrel recognized the value in expanding one’s academic horizons by taking liberal arts courses.

“I had a ball in the fine arts classes, they’re great,” he said. Jackrel emphasized that students should take advantage of the DeMatteis School’s array of experiential learning opportunities. “Classes will only take you so far. You have to do other stuff too, like the Silicon Valley trip.”

Shortly after commencement, Jackrel will begin a five-month program as the newest member of the Think Tank Team at Samsung. The Think Tank is a highly selective program that requires applicants to go through a series of steps including a rigorous test.

“Samsung was the job I wanted. I wanted to be in research and development, and actually doing it,” said Jackrel. “You don’t expect this as your first job, and I luckily got it.” He’ll work in the division responsible for research and product development in the United States. Past Think Tank projects include a “chef robot” that works and cooks in a fully encapsulated garden and kitchen.

“I couldn’t tell you what a normal college experience is,” he said. “This is who I am and what I know.”