Ananya Sridhar
I am currently a senior in high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. This website summarizes my resumé. I am extremely passionate about social entrepreneurship, particularly leveraging the intersection of STEM and compassion for social good. I am also actively engaged with my culture and heritage and seek leadership roles in and outside of the classroom. I am always looking for new opportunities to learn and thinking of creative ways to solve problems. Read more about me below!The Neptune Project
2016 – Current
I read about the Flint Water Crisis while I was in middle school and wanted to start a project to address the devastating impact of lead poisoning on youth. I have developed an affordable, accessible, litmus test which turns purple when it comes into contact with unsafe levels of lead. I have also worked on a machine learning algorithm which uses data to pinpoint hotspots throughout the country at highest risk for lead poisoning. I have interned at One Concern, a disaster response startup based in Silicon Valley, and worked with their engineers and data science experts to refine the model. I have also written a full scientific paper on the Neptune Project which you can click here to read. This paper has been accepted for publication in the Young Scientists Journal. The Neptune Project was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Westly Prize for Young Innovators. I was the only high school student selected. I was recently selected as a winner for the Ashoka STEM for Changemaking Challenge. You can learn more about the Neptune Project at waterbyneptune.com. I have also put together a workshop on leveraging data and technology to solve problems for social good. I have presented to the CitizenScience club at my high school and am looking to present the workshop to students nationwide who are eager to make a positive impact on their communities.
Club for Kindness
2018 - Current
My sophomore year of high school, I started a program with the Center for Civic Engagement to recognize acts of kindness within the community. I noticed that students were so caught up in achievements and status that acts of kindness were getting lost. I put together a committee with one member from each grade, put out a nomination form in the my school’s newsletter, and we met up to review nominations and pick a few to recognize. They were recognized with a handwritten card, coupon for a cookie or drink at the cafeteria, and a write up in the eTiger. Here’s an example of a newsletter write up. Last summer, I presented at a conference at the Institute for Social Emotional Learning in front of educators from all over the world. The same kindness program is now being implemented at a school in Seattle and I’ve put together a starter kit for schools to use anywhere. You can learn more about this project at clubforkindness.org. You can watch my presentation at the IFSEL conference here. A copy of the presentation I gave is attached here. I am working with IFSEL to do more seminars this year.
EnviroMind Podcast
I host and produce a podcast that explores ways in which different animals practice empathy and manage politics within their communities. Seeing the US struggle so much with this and discrimination, I wanted to find some lessons we can learn from the animal kingdom. I have interviewed top professors in the filed including Frans de Waal and Marc Bekoff, and have more episodes coming soon. Listen on Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor, or Pocket Casts now.
Awards and Publications
Westly Prize Finalist
Honors Californian innovators 27 and younger. I was the youngest of eight finalists selected from a pool of over 100 applicants for my work on the Neptune Project. Learn more here
Most Improved Runner
I was voted by my coaches and teammates (a team of almost 100) as Most Improved athlete for my performance in the 2019 Track season, and the 2019 Cross Country season. I am also the captain of both teams.
General Motors Ashoka STEM Changemaker
Awarded for founding the Neptune Project. The Neptune Project was one of 25 teams in the country selected for the award. Learn more here.
Published in Literary Magazine
A creative writing piece short story I wrote inspired by the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 was published in my school's Literary Magazine, and I am waiting to hear back from fiction journals for publication as well.
Accepted for Publication in Young Scientists Journal
A paper I wrote on the Neptune Project has been accepted for publication in the Young Scientists Journal.
Featured Project in 2020 YSJ Conference
The Neptune Project was selected as a featured project in the 2020 Young Scientists Journal Conference.
Leadership
Cultural engagement
My parents immigrated to America and a lot of my family still lives in India. Since I was born, I’ve been visiting India with my family every year. These experiences have greatly shaped the way I see the world. At my high school, I noticed a lack of representation of the South Asian community. I have lead South Asian Middle Eastern (SAME) Club at my school for the past two years. As a leader, I increased year-over-year membership by 4x. Creating a space to celebrate my heritage and share it with others is something I take great pride in, but creating and leading that space for others is even more rewarding to me. This fall I fundraised money to send individually packaged chai ingredient boxes to club members in order to maintain engagement over distance learning.
Athletics
I’ve been a part of the cross country and track teams at my high school since my freshman year. I was awarded Most Improved in Spring 2019 and Fall 2020, and I have been elected captain by my teammates for both track and cross country. Cross country is the biggest sports team at my ~500 student high school high school with almost 100 runners. Here is a link to a video of Coach Joe Fleming talking about my role on the track team and presenting me with the most improved award.
Political engagement
This fall, I joined the Yes on Proposition 14 campaign to fund lifesaving stem cell research in my home state, California. As a student ambassador, I took part in campaign meetings, spoke in webinars, and helped launch a sticker campaign to increase youth engagement with Prop 14 over social media. I recruited the art club at my school to design stickers to raise awareness of the benefit stem cell research has had on many chronic illnesses. In addition, since I was taking a Molecular Genetics and Ethics course at the time, I asked my teacher if I could present about the proposition. I created a presentation to those taking the class about the proposition and how it connected to the content of the class.
Responding to COVID
COVID-Kindness Newsletter
As a part of Club for Kindness, I started a specialized newsletter to highlight stories of kindness during the pandemic. These stories, no matter how big or small, remind us of the resiliency of our communities and values even in the hardest of times. View the blog and sign up for the email newsletter here!
Digital Device Drive
The digital divide, especially in the Bay Area, has been exacerbated by the pandemic and is challenging many families who have students in distance learning that don’t have the proper equipment. I have organized a platform for families to donate used devices, ship them to a location to be refurbished and reset, and match them with families in need. Visit this link to donate!
Work Samples
An assortment of essays and projects I’ve done throughout the years that each show a different side of who I am academically. Each header is a link to the content.
Ancestral Story Essay
from sophomore year English, relating analysis of Potiki by Patricia Grace (pages 1-3) to a familial ancestral story (pages 3-4).
Approximating √2 Using Vedic Math
a presentation I gave on an Eastern method of approximating the square root of 2.
Creative Writing Portfolio
a collection of stories, exercises, and reflections I wrote in Creative Writing class. The story “August 15, 1947” has been published in my school’s literary magazine and has been submitted for publication in a youth journal.
Spoken Piano Essay
talks about my journey with music. The voiceover is over a recording of me performing in fourth grade.