Gitanjali Rao is an American inventor, author, social activist, and a

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

student and advocate. Rao won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge in 2017 and was recognized on ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 for her innovations. Rao was named ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' top young innovator of 2020 for her innovations and "innovation workshops" she conducts across the globe and, on December 4, 2020, was featured on the cover of ''Time'' and named their first "Kid of the Year".

Early life

Rao was born in 2005 in Ohio to parents Bharathi and Ram Rao. She later moved to

Lone Tree, Colorado The City of Lone Tree is a home rule municipality located in northern Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 14,253 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 14,061 in 2024. Lone Tree is a part of the Denver metropol ...

and attended STEM School Highlands Ranch. Rao is of Indian descent. She enjoys Indian classical dancing and classical music. Rao has expressed interest in studying

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

and

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

. She has conducted research at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

Inventions

Tethys

Rao was first influenced by a science kit her uncle gave to her when she was 4 years old. When she was 10, she heard about the

Flint water crisis The Flint water crisis was a public health crisis from 2014 to 2019 which involved the drinking water for the city of Flint, Michigan, being contaminated with lead and possibly ''Legionella'' bacteria. In April 2014, during a financial crisis, ...

while watching the news and became interested in ways to measure the lead content in water. This led to her using App Inventor to develop a device called Tethys which was based on

carbon nanotube A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with a diameter in the nanometre range ( nanoscale). They are one of the allotropes of carbon. Two broad classes of carbon nanotubes are recognized: * ''Single-walled carbon nanotubes'' (''S ...

s that could send water quality information via

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

. She collaborated with a research scientist at 3M and in 2017, she won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge and was awarded $25,000 for her invention, Tethys. Tethys contains a 9-volt battery, a lead sensing unit, a

extension and a processor. It uses carbon nanotubes, whose resistance changes in the presence of lead. She learned about the carbon nanotubes while reading the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

website. She plans to work with scientists and medical professionals to investigate the potential of Tethys as a viable method. She presented her idea at the 2018 MAKERS Conference and raised a further $25,000. As of January 2019, she was working with the Denver water facility and planned to have a prototype within two years.

Epione

In 2019, Rao developed a diagnostic tool called Epione for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction. Gitanjali had submitted this medical device as her Technovation Girls submission. This portable device uses sample imaging to detect elevated levels of proteins that correspond to high levels of opioids.

Kindly

Rao developed an app named "Kindly" that uses

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

that can detect cyberbullying at an early stage and has partnered with UNICEF to roll-out the service globally.

Other works

Rao is a three-time TEDx speaker and is passionate about sharing her love of

. She has given over 200 talks and workshops in more than 40 countries.Global Teacher Prize website, ''2022 Finalists Global Student Prize'' page, article dated December 6, 2022
/ref> She conducts innovation workshops for students throughout the globe in partnership with after school clubs, schools, science museums, STEM organizations and other educational organizations to promote a problem-solving curriculum for K-12 students. , she is a member of

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

and has enrolled in the Scouting STEM program in the United States. In 2021, Rao published her book, ''Young Inventor's Guide to STEM'', which elaborates on her 5 Steps To Problem-Solving For Students, Educators, and Parents. Sections of the book have been adapted for school use in Kenya and Uganda. In 2023 Rao enrolled at MIT and gained her pilot’s licence; in 2024, she plans to publish her second book, ''A Young Innovators Guide to Planning For Success''. During the 2024 summer, Gitanjali plans to conduct research and work at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. At the Institute, she plans to work on the development of extended release vaccines.

Awards and recognition

In 2017, Rao won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge. The Middle Tennessee Council of the Boy Scouts of America recognized her as its STEM Scout of the Year in 2017. These honors led to her inclusion in the delegation for the 2017 BSA Report to the Nation. In 2018, Rao was awarded the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

President's Environmental Youth Award. In 2019, Rao was recognized on

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

in the science category. She was awarded the Top "Health" Pillar Prize for the TCS Ignite Innovation Student Challenge in May 2019 for developing a diagnostic tool called Epione based on advances in

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction. In 2020, ''

'' named her the top young innovator. She was also the first person to be named Time magazine's Kid of the Year. In 2021, Rao was honored as a Laureate of the Young Activists Summit at UN Geneva.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Gitanjali 2005 births 21st-century American inventors American child activists American people of Indian descent Inventors from Colorado Living people People from Douglas County, Colorado Time Kid of the Year American women inventors American child writers