BEAVERTON, Ore. - William Yuan made headlines last week with an innovative 3D solar cell design but now one university is questioning whether the boy's work is his own.

For two years, the 12-year-old Meadow Park Middle School student studied 3D solar cells in his spare time and after he won a scholarship from the Davidson Institute for his solar cell design, the Georgia Tech Research Institute took notice - questioning whether Yuan had copied their research.

"The only thing we've ever asked for is a little bit of information so we can determine that his research is truly different than the work that we've done here - and we're hopeful that it is," said Kirk Englehardt with Georgia Tech.

When KATU first interviewed Yuan, he said he researched the work by Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, then improved on their designs.

Yuan was even skeptical of his own discoveries. 

"This solar cell can't be generating this amount of electricity.  It can't be absorbing this much extra light compared to Georgia Tech's because I was already under the impression that theirs is cutting edge already," he said.

We asked Georgia Tech why they are doubting the young scientist.

"The appearances are that it's the same type of technology," said Englehardt.  "We're hopeful that it's different."

Yuan claims his 3D solar cells are more efficient - absorbing 10 percent more of the sun's energy.  So we told Englehardt "it says he designed the nanotubes using different coding to improve the light conversion to electricity" to try to get some clarification.

"That is something that we haven't seen in the media reports and that's something we truly would love to talk to him about," said Englehardt.

Following doubts raised on the Internet, and by Georgia Tech, the Davidson Institute reviewed Yuan's work for a second time.

"Nothing had been plagiarized, everything was properly cited and he deserved the scholarship," said Julie Dudley with the Davidson Institute.

Georgia Tech officials said they have no doubt Yuan is bright and intelligent, and if everything is resolved, they may welcome him as a student someday.

UPDATE:

On Saturday, Englehardt, the director of communications at Georgia Tech, released this statement: 

“We are glad to report that the Georgia Tech Research Institute has been contacted by the head of the Davidson Institute.   We are now having a dialogue with the Institute and are hopeful that we are on our way to a positive outcome for everyone involved.  Thank you to all in the media and the blogosphere who have taken an interest in this story.  Your comments have been appreciated.”