Hwang spends about 20 to 30 hours a week running the nonprofit journal, The Triple Helix: The National Journal of Science, Society, and Law. He founded the journal and manages it in his spare time.

Triple Helix is an undergraduate journal of science, society and law, with student-written articles exploring how the three are interwoven. Hwang developed the idea in 2004 to provide an outlet for discussion and debate for students like himself who have interdisciplinary interests.

The first issue of the biannual journal was published in spring 2005. It has grown from its Cornell base as an undergraduate journal to a national nonprofit with 16 chapters at elite universities throughout the United States.

Hwang, who is from Cupertino, serves on the board of directors of Triple Helix and is the chief executive officer.

Hwang also manages a double major in economics and molecular and cell biology, and works as a research assistant in a microbiology lab.

Solid organizational skills are his key to success, he says.

He figures if he can squeeze in a phone call here or read a chapter there, he has managed to use every minute of every day well.

All this squeezing earned him placement on the first team in the 17th annual USA Today's All-USA College Academic Team. Hwang was one of 20 students chosen out of 600 nominees. A panel of 12 judges based their selection on the students' leadership, grades, academic rigor, activities and an essay on the most intellectually demanding venture undertaken by the candidate.

The All-USA Academic and Teacher Team, honored by USA Today, awards exceptional students and educators four times yearly. Hwang was named to the first team, which awards students $2,500; teachers get $500 and the discretionary spending of an additional $2,000 for the school. Second and third teams of up to 40 runners-up receive certificates of achievement.

Hwang wrote his essay about his experience founding Helix.

The publication's name, Triple Helix, stems from the historically false hypothesis of the structure of DNA--which turned out to be a double helix structure. And the journal states: "Even false hypotheses can ignite innovation and progress and can lead to debate and critical analysis, all of which are positive ends in and of themselves."

Topics covered in Triple Helix range from the possibility of childhood vaccinations as a cause for autism to the dangers of eating genetically engineered food. And like Hwang, whose own interests cross business, science and law, so, too, do the articles.

Growing up in Silicon Valley, Hwang is the child of computer scientists--his mother, Anita, is a computer programmer at Stanford, and his father, David, is an Intel fellow and director of flash memory process technology--but Hwang is drawn to biology.

"My dad always kids that he wonders if I'm adopted," Hwang says, laughing.

Hwang, who graduated from Harker School, says he is more interested in the application of science and how it affects society. His first choice for a major in college was government and economics, but his parents encouraged him to go into the field of biology because they foresaw the growth and movement in the biotechnology field.

"They thought I might as well try it. I took their advice. I'm glad I did," he says.

While his parents have always encouraged him to pursue his passions, now they worry he is taking on too much.

"Now they tell me to quit all my activities, to have a healthy lifestyle," Hwang says. "I'll tell my mom, 'We just got someone from Oxford to join a chapter,' she'll say, 'Kevin, make sure you are eating right.' "

Ultimately, he would like to start his own pharmaceutical or biotechnology business, and finally, his dream is to become a social entrepreneur.

"I'd like to take up a social cause. Right now I'm interested in science education or the issue of AIDS. I don't know what cause I might take on later. Whatever talent I'm supposed to have, I'd like to give back to society. It sounds cliché and corny, but I feel I've been very lucky," he says.