"The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, inspired her to develop a way to detect contaminants and send those results to a mobile phone, she told interviewer Angelina Jolie.

Gitanjali Rao, 15, is Asian-American.

"Time said Rao stood out for creating a global community of young innovators and inspiring them to pursue their goals. Rao insists that starting out small doesn’t matter, as long as you’re passionate about it.

"Gitanjali Rao, a sophomore at STEM School Highlands Ranch in suburban Denver who lives in the city of Lone Tree, was selected from more than 5,000 nominees in a process that culminated with a finalists’ committee of children, Time for Kids reporters and comedian Trevor Noah.

"Rao’s innovating started early. At age 12, she developed a portable device to detect lead in water.

"She’s created a device called Epione that diagnoses prescription opioid addiction at an early stage. She’s also devised an app called Kindly that uses artificial intelligence to help prevent cyberbullying. It allows teens to type in a word or phrase to find out if the words they’re using are bullying and lets them decide to edit what they’re sending or to proceed.

"Rao told The Associated Press in a interview from her home Friday that the prize is “nothing that I could have ever imagined. And I’m so grateful and just so excited that we’re really taking a look at the upcoming generation and our generation, since the future is in our hands.”

"Time said in a statement that, along with Nickelodeon, it wanted to recognize “the rising leaders of America’s youngest generation” in making the award. For 92 years, Time has presented a “Person of the Year,” and the youngest ever was Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was 16 when she graced the magazine’s cover last year."

[nbcnews.com]