Gitanjali Rao

Gitanjali Rao is 18 years old and is an inventor, an 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 environment issue of lead contamination 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 85,000 students in the last three years across 46 countries. She has raised over 100K for the refugee students and maker spaces. 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. The book is used as a formal STEM curriculum in Kakuma refugee center and rural schools across the globe. She was appointed as a UNICEF Youth Advocate 2021 for using science for solving 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 for the refugee camp students. She is currently a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently working on research focused on faster and more accessible vaccine fabrication and delivery mechanisms utilizing microarray needle patches.