NEW DELHI: Fifteen-year-old Gitanjali Rao from Colorado, US has been selected as the first-ever Time kid of the year by the US-based magazine for her innovations and "innovation workshops", which she conducts across the globe.
Rao has been selected from a pool of over 5,000 nominees by the magazine which is known for featuring a profile of a person, or a group that has done the most to influence the world in the previous year.
This year, the magazine has also rolled out a feature on "kid of the Year". Rao was interviewed by actor, activist Angelina Jolie for the US-based magazine.
Rao considers herself a "problem solver" who has worked on issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to cyberbullying.
She won the Discovery Education 3M Scientist Challenge at the age of 11. She was also listed by Forbes in "30 Under 30" list for her innovations.
At the age of 11, Rao learned about the Flint water crisis. The drinking water source for the city of Flint was contaminated by after authorities changed the source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water (sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River) to the Flint River, leading to a massive spike in lead content in the water.
Rao developed a device based on carbon nanotubes to measure the content of lead in water. The device was equipped to send contamination information using Bluetooth. She named her device, Tethys.
In September 2018, she was awarded the United States Environmental Protection Agency President’s Environmental Youth Award.
She wants to study genetics and epidemiology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.