Time magazine announced their first ever "Kid of the Year" with the award going to 15-year-old Gitanjali Rao.
Gitanjali, who was interviewed by actress Angelina Jolie for the cover of Time magazine, was awarded the prize for her "work using technology to tackle issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyberbullying".
In the interview Gitanjali told Jolie: "I don’t look like your typical scientist. Everything I see on TV is that it’s an older, usually white man as a scientist. It’s weird to me that it was almost like people had assigned roles, regarding like their gender, their age, the color of their skin."
But it's the fact that Gitanjali is rebuking these stereotypes in the traditionally white male-dominated field of STEM that many on social media are finding inspiring.
This is not the first time Gitanjali has received a major accolade. She was previously named a 'Young Scientist of the year’ for creating a device that tested the amount of lead in drinking water.
The one thing everyone can agree on is that the future looks bright for Gitanjali. As even Angelina Jolie mentioned in her interview with the young scientist: "I’m sure I’ll be using your inventions in years to come and just being in awe of you as I watch you do more and more in your life, and I can say, 'I met her once'.”
And it's fair to say Jolie is not the only one in awe.
