The magazine has announced Colorado teenager Gitanjali Rao as the first ever ‘Kid of the Year’ for 2020. Rao, who is 15 years old, created a device named Tehys, which uses an arduino processor and carbon nanotube sensors to detect lead in water, and then sends the report to a smart phone app. While in seventh grade during 2017 she was named ‘Top Young Scientist’ in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge and received a $25,000 prize for the lead-detection device she invented. Most recently, she has created a tech tool named Kindly, which uses A.I. technology to detect early signs of cyberbullying.
Time magazine lauded Rao’s ability to apply scientific ideas to real-world problems and her desire to motivate other children to take up their own causes.
