An Indian-American kid of just 15, Gitanjali Rao, was selected from more than 5,000 American nominees, aged 8 to 16, as TIME’s first ever Kid of the Year on December 3, 2020, for her “astonishing work using technology to tackle issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction, and cyberbullying”. A ‘brilliant’ young scientist and innovator, Rao has a mission to create a global community of young innovators who can solve problems across the world, and has mentored more than 30,000 students, whose work identifies innovation as a necessity rather than a choice.
Gitanjali has opened new research areas on artificial intelligence and carbon nanotube sensor technology.
Her work includes development of a portable device to detect lead in water; creation of Epione, a device that diagnoses prescription opioid addiction at an early stage; devising an app called ‘Kindly’ that helps prevent cyberbullying; authoring A Young Innovative Guide to STEM and Baby Brother Wonders. She has spoken at several TED (technology, entertainment, and design) events. In order to use science and technology to create social change, she started innovation workshops with a simple presentation and lesson plans, and then she started adding labs and contests that students could do. She has partnered with rural schools, girls in STEM organisations (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), museums all across the world, and bigger organisations like Shanghai International Youth Science and Technology group, and the Royal Academy of Engineering in London for this purpose. She wants to develop an app or device, which may help update data to identify prioritisation in distribution of COVID-19 vaccine.
Gitanjali was featured in the web series Marvel’s Hero Project as Genius Gitanjali for her valuable contributions to society. She has been featured in the Forbes 30, under-30 list. Besides, she has received the EPA Presidential Award, George Stephenson Innovation Award 2020, Kumon 2019 Student Inspirational Award, and TCS Ignite Innovation Top Health Pillar Award among others. She has also been awarded with the Young Scientist Challenge, a youth science and engineering competition, organised by Discovery Education and 3M.