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GITANJALI RAO TIME´S KID OF THE YEAR 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 (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshops she conducts globally, which has inspired over 50,000 students in the last two years across five continents and 26 countries. 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. She was honored as one of America's Top Youth Volunteers by Prudential in 2021 for her workshops.
What are your driving forces and what is your "superpower"? – My driving force is the fact that we are all growing with several problems that never existed before with climate change, contamination of natural resources, etc. So no matter what, we youth need to be equipped with skills for the unknown jobs of tomorrow that will sustain our infrastructure and resources. My superpower is the fact that I am curious and ready to try different solutions with the hope that I bring awareness to people and organizations on the problems we face. Tell us about how you work with research and innovations to contribute to a sustainable tomorrow? – My work on Tethys, an early lead detection tool and Epione, a directional diagnosis on prescription opioid addiction has the fundamental concept of giving end-users the ability to test themselves and take action. The lack of knowledge of contamination and extent of contamination in our water is a much bigger problem. This adds to the fact that there are no specific regulations to test drinking water in all sources in many countries. Hence providing an inexpensive tool in every-
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