Speaker: Gitanjali Rao, TIME Magazine's Kid of the Year 2020, Interviewed by former Global Scholar Afnan Salem
The Columbus Council on World Affairs is privileged to host and interview TIME Magazine’s 2020 Kid of The Year, Gitanjali Rao. The 15-year-old innovator, author, and STEM promoter has a mission to create a global community of young innovators to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. Rao’s noteworthy work in STEM addresses issues ranging from potable water access to cyberbullying, and she’s just getting started. Her presentation will focus on the importance of young people taking action and why their perspectives are valuable when considering global issues. We hope you will join us for this inspiring event.
Thank you to our event sponsor and promotional partners listed below.
Gitanjali Rao was recognized as America’s Top Young Scientist and received an EPA Presidential award for inventing her device “Tethys”—an early lead 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 and TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and “TIME Kid of the Year” for her innovations and STEM workshops she conducts globally, which has inspired over 50,000 students in the last two years across six continents. In her sessions, she shares her own process of innovation that can be used by students all over the world. She often presents in global and corporate forums on innovation and the importance of STEM.
Gitanjali is the author of the book “Young Innovator’s Guide to STEM”, which guides students, educators, or teachers with a prescribed 5 step innovation process.