PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: What significance did receiving the TIME Kid of the Year title from TIME magazine hold for you and how did it influence your subsequent decisions? Is 15 an appropriate age to receive such a prestigious award, considering the potential effects it may have on one's motivation and drive? Please answer based on your own experiences.
GITANJALI RAO: I was honored, humbled, and beyond excited to be named TIME Kid of The Year! There’s something so exciting about being able to share your story and representing kids from all walks of life, no matter their gender, their age, or where they come from. I hope that I have proven that anyone can be an innovator.
It was 2020, and in between COVID-19, TIME did an amazing job of highlighting optimism, kindness, the need for science, and positivity, especially during tough times and especially the work of our generation. There were several finalists, and we all tried to light up the community with whatever we could.
It gave us all a message that we can start with one step at a time.
Personally, the award was a call to do more, keep spreading the message of innovation, and influence a curriculum worldwide on problem-solving and supporting youth.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: In the context of being named TIME Kid of the Year and your other achievements, you frequently mention the concept of responsibility. What does this word signify to you? How do you interpret it and what role do you believe you play in this context?
GITANJALI RAO: I always see recognition as a responsibility to do more for society. I am privileged to be supported by parents, mentors, and teachers. Only some children are fortunate to have the same support system, and not everyone has all the resources I have, even basic ones such as internet access, computers, and books.
So, I see my role as trying to do whatever I can for those who cannot afford it, even if it’s a small step.
KVC and AdiY2 in the Kakuma Refugee camps are some places where I have invested in students garnering support globally. When I see places where people do not have basic resources, I decide to help them “walk before they run” by first enabling them to get basic resources and then introducing them to the outside world. I have been fortunate to work with leaders within the camp who partner with me and enable students to either get a technical certification or teach them skills that help them to self-sustain their educational plans.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: How did it happen that you entered the scientific path? Where/from whom did you get your inspiration, what and when motivated you to do it, what specifically made you swallow the bug? Was it a single impulse/impulse or more of a process?
GITANJALI RAO: I don’t think I started with science as a path I wanted to take. I was introduced to the arts, reading, science, culture, and history. If I was curious to learn more, I remember my teachers and parents trying to find me all the possible resources, whether local museums or libraries.
We would even play games in our homes to solve problems, from creating shelters for homeless individuals to creating a world-class restaurant. My dad would be the judge, and my mom would be a participant with us, and at the end, we would go for an ice cream outing.
Soon this became a habit, and solving problems with the background knowledge became second nature. It takes me years to understand the problem better. Once we understand the problem, who the victims are, and the gaps in the current solutions, determining a solution is easier because we can look at it from the users’ perspective.
For example, when I understood the process of how people get addicted without knowing or how doctors prescribe medications without knowing that a person can be vulnerable to addiction, it became very clear. It became obvious that physicians need something more accurate than a questionnaire and some device that gives results almost near real-time before prescribing medications. As a 13-year-old, while I had the idea, I didn’t have all the necessary resources and hence had to depend on external labs.
Being at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I went back to understanding the basic research skills to further solve problems. I am an intern today at the Langer lab and previously was an intern at Kellis lab. Both labs encouraged and supported me in working on the latest research.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: What, besides yourself, do your inventions (Kindly, Epione, Tethys) have in common? At first glance, they appear to be from different fields.
GITANJALI RAO: They all have a multidisciplinary approach to solving problems — chemistry, engineering, programming, AI, or biology. In a world where scientific process and inquiry skills are taught more, the approach was design thinking skills to get to a product. Along with this, all my solutions are an approach towards detection — an area that I believe needs to be looked at more for novel solutions.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: You said in an interview that your goal is, among other things, to inspire other young people to act, to make scientific discoveries, to follow the path you have chosen. What can persuade young people to do this today, what do you think might seem attractive to teenagers on this path, how should you speak to them to get them to act?
GITANJALI RAO: I aim to simplify innovation and encourage students to become innovative thinkers and develop solutions. This means providing simple learning tools and a set process that anyone can use to develop a solution.
I acknowledge that I did have the opportunities, support system, and resources to take the next steps. I want to use forums like these and my workshops to stress the importance of innovation with limited resources.
I conduct workshops focusing on and guiding through a five-step process that I developed and used for several of my innovations, starting at age 11 or 12. Students can adopt it and create their innovation journey from idea to reality. The vision is to introduce innovative tools and techniques earlier in our education and curriculum globally so that everybody thinks about using science as a catalyst for social impact and change.
I have reached 85,000 students in 46 countries and Poland may be the 47th country when I visit Warsaw for the summit. Students benefited the most from these, although parents and educators also attended. Educators contact me for clarifications and to host more sessions for their communities.
Most students and schools are working on their own inventions, and schools have adopted the process. They also meet weekly to prepare for STEM competitions.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: You say, motivating other young people, that everything, every little thing can bring change, can be scientific (this is how you talked about baking, for example, in an interview with Angelina Jolie for TIME). You reiterate: „Don’t feel pressure to come up with something big.”; Is this a good argument to convince young people today to work on their own ideas, since this is a generation so exposed to social media ratings?
GITANJALI RAO: The encouraging words from my mentors or teachers motivated me to keep going. Giving up on this journey is very easy since resources are limited for middle school students and even for privileged students. Hence, I always start my workshops with what we are passionate about. This helps us find a problem in our area of passion, something we have experienced, and solve it using our talent. The solution can be about something other than science or technology but can be any talent, art, music, or other skills.
I have been impressed and amazed in my workshops where the students come up with problems. For example, I have dyslexia, and I hope my teacher understands how I see the letters or that I love ballet, but my shoes cause aching toes. I have had educators who came up with amazing ideas on how they love swimming on the coastlines and want to prevent shark attacks. They define their problems easily, which are simpler than solving global warming or curing diseases, yet important. They are simple and genuine problems they have personally seen or connected to.
Most students and schools are working on their own inventions, and schools have adopted the process. They also meet weekly to prepare for STEM competitions.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: What can children, young people bring to the world of science? How can they convince researchers to let them into laboratories?
GITANJALI RAO: As a child who has gone through this, children should acquire a support system that will reach out to resources on their behalf and believe in them. It can be your parents, teachers, or mentors. Reach out to local Universities, and do not be afraid of rejections. I have failed more times than I have succeeded. I keep receiving more "No" than "Yes", and I know the worst answer is a "No", so why not try. I urge students to ask for help with integrity and honesty and be true to themselves while requesting opportunities.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: Skin color, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation - these are also close issues for us as "Perspektywy” Education Foundation in the context of inequality in fields such as STEM. Tell us why you think it’s important to pay attention to these things, and how to do it to achieve your goals? Especially the question about young girls: how do you talk to them, how do you inspire them, what do you do to make sure they discover the world available to them in STEM fields?
GITANJALI RAO: It is complex to explain why women are still not well or equally represented in the sciences (specifically, women in science, technology, engineering, and math — STEM). However, we can try to understand some of the reasons. According to the Global Gender Gap Report (2023), women comprise only 29.2% of the STEM workforce in 146 nations.
For young girls, these may be the top 3 reasons:
1. Isolation: Imagine going to a club or class, and you are the only girl there. This has happened to me several times.
2. Lack of encouragement: Women and girls need more positive reinforcement to pursue their passions. Even when girls get the top scores, there is a lack of counseling for graduate studies.
3. Male scientists being portrayed in the media as role models and recognized more than women
As they grow, the wage gap and responsibilities towards the family add to the complexity. Research shows that most girls lose interest in science after middle school; this could be because we are stereotyped and society has decided a role for us, but sometimes we choose to exclude ourselves.
But we have hope. Today, there is a stronger effort to encourage girls in STEM. Schools, clubs, and organizations all support a future where girls and boys have equal opportunities. While these groups work on it, we girls must also do our part. We need to recognize that we all learn differently. Coding and programming with robots and machines around us may be a poor introduction to STEM for all girls. Introduce young girls to various topics and let them mix and mash them. I usually start my workshops by finding out what everyone likes to do and finding problems to solve in those fields, whether it is sports, nature, animals, food, etc., and then look for new solutions that use some of the latest technology or individual talents. This is less overwhelming for us girls.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: You are the author of two guides (one will be published in June 2024) to the world of invention and STEM - tell us about them and what prompted you to write them (what goals did you set for yourself)?
GITANJALI RAO: To sustain the workshops beyond me and my schedule, I authored a book, "Young Innovator's Guide to STEM" in 2021, now available worldwide and translated into 6 different languages. Fortunately, the book resonated with students worldwide, and thousands of copies have helped individuals and schools. Sections of the book are now adopted as a formal STEM Curriculum in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya and some rural schools across the globe. I recently established a foundation and working towards a governance model that will recruit more advocates who can deliver professional content, have self-sustaining chapters, and help students.
My dream is to build an innovation movement in early education. With an army of inspired and passionate students solving problems in their communities, I want to see it become a reality soon.
My second book, "A Young Innovator’s Guide to planning for Success" is focused on preparing for a highly competitive college admission landscape in the United States. I hope the book reaches out to every part of the nation, irrespective of the economic situation/resources in a geographic area, so students focus on long-term passion rather than a short-term vision of getting admitted. This will allow us to grow as responsible individuals in society.
PERSPEKTYWY WOMEN IN TECH: You revealed that your dream is to work on solutions to some of the most complex problems in our communities and perhaps someday run a biotech company - what is behind this choice and what seems to you to be an important problem to solve at the moment?
GITANJALI RAO: I believe the future is personalized medicine based on the genetic makeup of every individual and living organism. We are increasingly looking at a future where diagnosis techniques and traditional drug-based treatment approaches will, in most cases, be replaced with gene-based methods. However, these gene-based solutions will be more powerful when built as products using a combination of several traditionally separate technology disciplines.
I'd like to develop sensors for identifying known and unknown pathogens using their genetic code and remediation techniques for genetic and acquired diseases. At some point, I'd like to take prototypes and develop inexpensive and reliable products that can make a real positive impact in the community.
