15 year old Gitanjali Rao is the first ever Indian American and person to ever receive the TIME magazine “Kid of the year” title. She featured on the cover of the magazine for this seasons edition.
Gitanjali Rao is a young brilliant scientist and inventor who received the title from TIME for her astonishing work. She used technology to tackle a wide range of issues. Some included, how to check and clean contaminated drinking water. Tackling option addiction and cyberbullying.
Out of 5000 nominees this year, Gitanjali was selected as the Kid of the Year. She was interviewed by the famous actress and activist Angelina Jolie for her TIME magazine special. When asked about her process to tackle and create, she answered saying she has a routine which is “observe, brainstorm, research, build and communicate”.
In the interview, she elaborated about how technology has helped her create solutions to certain problems. Her aim is to create a global community for young leaders and innovators to solve problems.
Gitanjali elaborated on how this and the coming generation have and will face many problems. If there aren’t plausible solutions now, the problems may aggravate says the young scientist. She targeted important issues such as environmental problems, climate cha ge, cyberbullying, energy use and addiction with the help of technology.
Gitanjali always wanted to become a scientist. According to her interview with TIME magazine, every time she would watch TV, the scientist was either an old white guy or just a man. Gitanjali wanted to change that. She wanted to be known as a scientist for her brilliance and not assigned roles for her gender and the colour of her skin.
Her passion for science was always a constant. According to her parents, at the age of 10 she wanted to research carbon nanotube sensor technology at the Denver Water Quality Lab. Since she was in second and third grade, her love for science had been on the rise.
When asked by Jolie that if there was anything she enjoyed doing apart from Science, Rao replied saying that she also loves to bake. According to Gitanjali, she actually bakes quite a lot.
By Meena Atmakuri
