valley sun all-star albert tom:

Who’d think that old newspaper and grass clippings would make a good source of automotive fuel? Well, this week’s CV All-Star, Albert Tom, a senior at Clark Magnet High School, is working on a project that just might make that a possibility.

And that’s only one of the groundbreaking projects in which the innovative youth is involved.

Tom, 17, has a passion for marine biology, engineering and robotics. And his interests and activities range from video games to testing for heavy metals in Los Angeles area waters to helping to monitor endangered species of ocean creatures.

“Albert is really quite extraordinary,” said Karen Carlson, Tom’s counselor at Clark Magnet High School.

“He’s an extraordinary researcher and a really cool kid,” she added.

Tom is the son of Suzanne Christiansen, of Glendale and Dick Tom, Jr., of Mt. Washington. He has four siblings: Erica, 22, a Hoover High School graduate; Caroline, 15, a sophomore at Clark Magnet High School; Tyrus, 34, of Las Vegas; and Liza, 35, of Los Angeles.

Albert Tom was born in Glendale and attended Mount Washington Elementary School in Mt. Washington for kindergarten through sixth grade and Lycee de Los Angeles in Los Angeles for seventh and eighth-grade.

As a small child, Tom became fascinated by trains and learned everything possible about steam engines. He later visited the Johnson Space Center in Texas and Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada and developed a passion for rockets.

At the high school, Tom has embraced all avenues of knowledge and excels in science and math in particular, Carlson said, adding, “He takes the maximum rigorous load he can take.”

He’s also involved in the school’s robotics team and has the ability to work together with a variety of people, Carlson said.

“He’s a decent human being and a really good citizen; a bridge person who helps people come together, the ambassador type,” she said.

For a senior project, Tom said, he decided to go beyond his normal comfort zone with a project to create cellulosic ethanol fuel.

Because most ethanol is made like wine, beer or whiskey, through fermenting and taking the sugar out, a valuable food resource is used up to make the fuel. “Albert’s project uses grass clippings and sawdust, things that aren’t needed otherwise,” his mom explained.