What were you doing in 9th grade?
Shripriya Kalbhavi of San Jose, California won second place in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, reports American Bazaar. She’s one of six Indian Americans to place in the top 10. Each of the others won a $1,000 cash prize and a $500 gift card.
For 2nd place, Kalbhavi walked home with $2,000. She won for EasyBZ, an automated patch that delivers drugs without the need for pills or needles.
Pune News reports that Kalbhavi also hosts a podcast called Famous Personalities which tells the stories of accomplished women scientists.
She herself hopes to be a neurosurgeon someday.
“Scientific research and innovations have always interested me, and I find the scientists, especially doctors, all around me to be extremely inspiring because they work to help people every day,” she wrote on the 3M contest website.
The winner of the $25,000 prize is Heman Bekele of Annandale, Virginia. Bekele created a skin cancer-treating soap.
The five other Indian American teens who placed, according to the American Bazaar are:
- Anisha Dhoot from Portland, Ore., a 9th grader at Westview High School in Beaverton School District;
- Ishaan Iyer from Rancho Cucamonga, California, a 6th grader at Day Creek Intermediate School in Etiwanda School District;
- Anish Kosaraju from Saratoga, California, a 9th grader at The Harker School in Campbell Union School District;
- Adhip Maitra from Oviedo, Fla., a 9th grader at Oviedo High School in Seminole County School District; and
- Shruti Sivaraman from Austin, Texas, an 8th grader at Canyon Vista Middle School in Round Rock Independent School District
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