September 2024 Young Planet Leader – Gitanjali Rao
Gitanjali Rao is an 18-year-old inventor, aspiring scientist, author, speaker, and an active promoter of STEM around the world. She was recognized as America’s Top Young Scientist and was a recipient of an EPA Presidential award for her patented invention of an innovative lead contamination detection tool.
Gitanjali is also the inventor of “Epione” a device for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction using genetic engineering, and “Kindly” – an anti-cyberbullying service using AI and Natural Language processing.
She was honored as Forbes “30 Under 30 in Science” in 2019 for solving an environmental issue of lead contamination, as well as TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and “TIME Kid of the Year” for her innovations and STEM workshops she conducts globally, which have inspired over 85,000 students in the last three years across 46 countries.
Gitanjali is the author of the book “Young Innovator’s Guide to STEM”, available in 6 languages, which guides students, educators, or teachers through a self-developed prescriptive 5 step innovation process. She was appointed as a UNICEF Youth Advocate 2021 for using science to solve social problems such as cyber-bullying and developing solutions for environmental protection and recently received the Muhammed Ali Humanitarian and Martin Luther King Beloved Community award for her selfless service to the refugee camp students.
She is currently a freshman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Like, and share to support September’s Young Planet Leader Gitanjali Rao.
Follow Gitanjali’s work:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gitanjalirao/
https://www.instagram.com/gitanjaliarao