The Knowledge Society: Teenagers Changing the World
The Knowledge Society (TKS) Members (from left to right): Anna Heck (16), Manasi Gajjalapurna (16), Samantha Ouyang (17), Sualeha Irshad (17) at SXSW, Austin, Texas, 2022
These four teenagers are driving major real-world change in a variety of fields.
They work with The Knowledge Society (TKS), an international education program that empowers the world’s most promising teens to make real-world change. Its unique 10-month innovation program for students aged 13-17 is aimed at helping solve some of the world’s biggest current and future problems. On the program, students engage with a wide range of contemporary topics including VR, AI, cryptocurrency and entrepreneurship, while being instructed and mentored by some of the world’s leading lights in their industries.
TFW had the chance to sit down with these amazing teens at SXSW 2022 in Austin, Texas - and we can tell you, these names are most definitely ones to watch in the future!
Manasi Gajjalapurna
ABOUT MANASI
Manasi is a 16 year old working in the intersections of policy, AI, and social impact to solve global problems and create systemic change. Combining her interests in AI and women’s health, Manasi developed Melanie – a virtual assistant designed to support and educate women on menstrual irregularities using AI-powered insights and NLP.
In the larger realm of policy, she is developing tools to aid gender equity and representation, and is currently working with a subsector of the National Women’s Political caucus to create data-powered tools that enable and encourage women of color to run for office.
Seeing the need to generate conversation around typically unspoken difficulties affecting women of diverse backgrounds, Manasi also co-hosts The Boss Ladies Podcast, where she is building a platform for impact-oriented women to share their authentic journeys, bringing together listeners from over 28 different countries.
At just 16 years old, you are working to solve global women’s health problems and create systemic change with AI. What was the one moment, the inciting incident that you can remember, which motivated you to use AI and policy together to work towards equity?
At the end of 2020, I ended up participating in a global hack-a-thon that we actually ended up winning, and we developed a virtual assistant to detect menstrual irregularities in women. This project ended up being a really critical project for me because I didn’t really know much about women’s issues and women’s health beforehand, and this project really showed me the power of AI in combating women’s health [issues]. So we were able to get a lot of validation from researchers and just work with different groups around the world to understand how this idea could be scaled.
At such a young age, why is this work so important to you?
I think [that] women’s health has to be a very intergenerational change. A lot of the voices around women’s health, especially at a systemic level, [are] coming from older generations, and it’s really important that we begin amplifying this in younger generations because it’s such a prevalent issue that no one really talks about. Especially being a teenager and also a woman, I’ve really understood the different inequities that exist in different communities. So, really amplifying this change within my generation is really important to me.
Which part of your journey so far have you found to be the most challenging, and what did you learn from that challenge?
I think [what] has been really challenging is finding a level of legitimacy to what I’m saying, because I think a lot of people don’t really understand the issues surrounding women’s health. We talk about certain diseases or certain problems like poverty and food inequity, and people sort of have a baseline understanding of what those problems are, but we won’t really talk about a lot of issues surrounding women’s health. I think one of the biggest challenges is trying to explain what a big issue this is to people, because even quantifying the problem tends to be really hard, and [many] people don’t have much experience with women’s health or can’t relate to a lot of the issues that women undergo.
What do you hope for your work, let’s say, in five years?
I would really like to create a strong community of people who are really more open about a lot of the issues that they’re going through, but also develop a solution to better detect reproductive disorders, which is what I’m currently focused on. In the next five years, I hope to deploy an AI based solution, especially in rural communities and South and East Asia, where there’s a lot of cultural stigma to give access to women in these communities, to detect reproductive disorders to give them the support they need. I live in the United States, and I’m so privileged that I have such great healthcare infrastructure around me, but a lot of women in these developing countries don’t, so to bring these tools to them would be really magical.
Samantha Ouyang
About Samantha
A 17-year-old from Toronto, Samantha is working to empower women in STEM and create a global impact with emerging tech. As a blockchain researcher and developer taking special interest in its potential for social impact, she has built a number of decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum; worked as a smart contract developer at a global fintech company called ViewFin; and conducted research on smart contract evolution at UWaterloo. Some of her projects included a land registration dApp to secure property rights in developing countries and a dApp to help with the lack of transparency in the pet industry. Another was BISECT – a permissioned blockchain framework to secure Industrial Control Systems and prevent cyberattacks on power plants. She also created BIØS, a framework to combat bias in AI that won Top 3 worldwide and landed her the opportunity to present her idea to 90+ members at S&P Global.
Samantha is also the Founder and Executive Director of Superposition Toronto, a non-profit dedicated to bridging the gender gap in STEM that has reached 33K+ individuals in 84 countries through workshops, panels, contests, and other initiatives. In August 2021, the organization hosted an international all-women with 1100 signups from 63 countries, 24 workshops/talks, and $62K+ in prizes.
She has also won international and national awards in chemistry olympiads; received top prizes in global and national hack-a-thons and innovation challenges; earned seed funding for her moonshot project using polysaccharide aerogels for water purification; and received a place on the Future 25 Under 25 list.
You have done tremendous work for the community through blockchain and Ethereum. What or who specifically introduced you to these emerging modes of technology, and how did you decide to use them to help communities worldwide?
I was first introduced to the blockchain when I was in grade 10 at a hack-a-thon called Hack the North, which is Canada’s largest hack-a-thon. I was looking at the survey and, on it, you check off all the technologies that you’re interested in learning more about. I was checking all of them off because I was super eager–it was my first hack-a-thon–and I saw blockchain, which was the one I had no clue about, and from there I went off and started researching more about blockchain. I asked my dad what it was and he had no clue either! From there, I just dove down rabbit holes, and that’s how I first got started with blockchain. Social impact has always been my biggest passion, and I always knew that I wanted to use technology to help other people. I know that with blockchain especially–because there’s so much hype around the new technologies like NFTs–people are always thinking about the money and the possible financial gain they can get from blockchain. For me, it was always about using blockchain to empower others. I use it for a lot of projects including securing property rights in developing countries, helping prevent cyberattacks on nuclear powerplants, and helping reduce blood expiry in the supply chain–essentially, a lot of the time, donated blood expires and goes to waste, so trying to find the point in the supply chain where that happens.
You are also the Founder and Executive Director of Superposition Toronto, a non-profit dedicated to bridging the gender gap in STEM. What specific instances motivated you to reach so many women in STEM worldwide?
I’m the founder and executive director for Superposition Toronto, which is a non-profit dedicated to bridging the gender gap in STEM, and I founded that organization in July 2020. Since then, we have been able to reach 33,000 individuals in over 84 countries. The reason why I founded Superpostition Toronto was that at the beginning of my high school years 9 and 10, I faced quite a lot of discrimination from people that I considered my friends. Most of my friends were guys, and we were all into competitive programming at the time. I went to them for help with a lot of my questions, and I thought they were my friends, but eventually, I realized that a lot of the time they discredited my achievements and said some really hurtful things to me. I always brushed it off and thought “it’s fine, I don’t wanna hurt the relationship at all with them;” I thought we were friends. I think that was the hardest part; having to pretend that none of this existed when it was a very true thing. Eventually, when the pandemic hit, I had a lot of time to reflect, and I was able to realize that if I wanted to make a change in my life and others’ lives, I have to be the one to take action. That’s why I founded Superposition Toronto.
what do you hope to achieve now through your organization, let’s say in 5 years?
I think in 5 years, I’d really hope to reach more individuals, I think one of the biggest things is also reaching more individuals in developing countries. We’ve already been able to reach all continents–Africa, Asia, where a lot of the developing countries are. Also, I think branching out to more of the younger generation; right now, we’re focusing a lot on high school and college students, but one thing I’ve learned through being in this space is that the part where young girls begin to detach themselves from STEM is earlier on, and we have to encourage them and introduce them to the field and get them interested in science and technology at a younger age. The earlier that they start to feel excluded from the field, the earlier that they will drop off and not ever want to try to discover it again. It’s really imperative that we introduce these at early ages, and that can be like visiting schools, like elementary schools, and teaching them coding.
Sualeha Irshad
About SUALEHA
17-year-old Sualeha Irshad is pioneering the way we interpret and analyze language on a technological interface. Her current research explores the intersectionality of educational technology, computational linguistics, and cognitive thought. Sualeha developed her project Equally, which works with AI technology to detect implicit bias in text-based communication.
Sualeha placed first in the Peace and Justice Challenge for her project Equally and she has also been a speaker for Tedx Talk, posing the question “How does language shape implicit bias?” to continue the conversation Equally started. Furthermore, she is the co-host of podcast The Boss Ladies (alongside Manasi Gajjalapurna), giving a space for accomplished women to share their stories to listeners across more than 28 countries.
What inspired you to pursue studying the intersectionality of linguistics and technology?
What first inspired me to look into linguistics and technology was the fact that language is basically the interface for our brain. So, when you think about how we move through society, you’re always processing everything through words—and it’s all about the power of communication, right? How do we exchange thoughts without this tool of language? And so when I think about why it can be so impactful to look at language at the intersection of technology is that technology can enhance our ability to manipulate language and to also analyze it. I think this can be really impactful when you think about issues like implicit bias and the impact that words can have on each other.
What was your “ah-ha!” moment about this? When did you say, “oh my gosh, this is what I need to do.”
I’d say my spark for this intersection between linguistics and technology would be my project called Equally. So, Equally is basically this project that takes AI algorithms, specifically natural language processing algorithms, to detect implicit bias in text-based communication like emails or documents. The reason I thought this was so impactful is because implicit bias is something that is very subconscious, it’s not something that’s very easy to detect, but it’s something that’s very very prevalent. So, for example, when we’re looking at a relationship like a teacher-student relationship, anything that a teacher says to a student will stick with that student for basically the rest of their lives, since they’re in their developing years. So, when we’re looking at that we want to make sure that whatever impression that the teacher makes on a student is a positive one. When I was thinking about that issue with implicit bias, I was like, I mean I wouldn’t want to be that student who’s going through that negative experience of having to feel like I’m alienated or I’m “other” or I’m being treated differently. That issue specifically was what sparked my interest to delve deeper into linguistics and technology.
What do you hope to do with your current research, and what changes do you hope to make regarding gender inequality and implicit bias?
Moving forward with this research I’m really hoping to deploy [it] equally and in different settings, whether it be in a classroom, in a workspace, or within a different company, and I’d like to see this being tested widespread. One thing we’re looking at is working on partnerships with different types of organizations and different sectors. My hopes for gender equity specifically is not having those double standards. When I think about language and gender equity specifically, there are a lot of words that exist for women that don't have a semantic equivalent for men. For example, words like “drama queen” or “diva,” there’s no masculine equivalent. I think these types of words are perpetuating stereotypes for women that are negative and not necessarily the image we want to portray within society.
In the future, do you hope to expand your organization around the world? What do you see happening with this in terms of the actual organization that you created?
For Equally, my initiative, I’d like to look specifically at awareness of implicit bias. Like I was mentioning earlier, implicit bias is something that is very subconscious and a lot of people don’t realize that it’s an actual issue. I think that would be one of the first steps to see how we can raise awareness and effectively educate people on this, because the status quo for detecting and mitigating implicit bias is mostly diversity equity and inclusion training and random content on the internet, just breaking out like, “oh, this is an issue.” But, there are no action steps on how to actually solve it, so that’s what I would hope to do moving forward.
anna heck
About anna
16-year-old Anna Heck is an innovator, passionate about changing the ocean and water tech space using IoT. Previously, she has worked with connectomics and PTSD in children, as well as the emerging field of biocomputing. As a PADI-certified diver and ocean enthusiast, Anna recognized that climate change was changing the way the ocean looks and is putting communities at risk of losing access to clean water. Using her previous knowledge of emerging technologies, she is on a mission to bring clean water to communities using IoT, and dive into the issue of ocean acidification.
tell me about your use of IoT to bring clean water in communities, what exactly are you hoping to create?
So with IoT I am hoping to create a system that uses sensors to detect contaminants in water, specifically lead and PFA’s, and then the system would be able to collaborate that information to municipalities, so cities as well as individuals to allow for real time monitoring of this contamination. And so IoT is basically just a network of connected devices that use these sensors to get data and then perform actions based off of it.
How is your background in connectomics, bio computing, and working with children with PTSD influenced your research?
My background in looking into connectomics with PTSD in children as well as biocomputing got me into IoT because I started looking into technologies with that research and specifically the different parts in communicating between the real world and then technology like the internet. From there I got interested in the hardware which led me to IoT, the combination of the software I was working with with connectomics as well as the hardware that I saw more with biocomputing.
Why is this so important to you, Anna?
Helping to monitor contaminants in our water in real-time is so important to me because it's a major issue in the United States and I think a lot of times it's a less thought about issue. We think our water looks clean, it should be safe to drink and especially in low-income areas it's a big problem, actually where my dad grew up [is] one of these areas that saw this contamination specifically and just hearing the stories of the people who got sick long-term, had things like cancer and infertility, because of this. I don't want that to continue happening. I think in 2022 water should be a basic human right, clean water should be and so I think working on this technology I'm starting to try and make progress towards that and that's really why I'm working on it.
how's your experience been with TKS and what do you look to achieve through your work with them?
My experience with TKS has been amazing. They really open the door to let me explore a lot of these technologies. I had no idea about things like IoT or connectomics before I got into this program and so it's really been a life-changing experience with me and it's so with TKS I'm just hoping to really continue to grow, I love the directors and they always give me lots of great insights and feedback that can help me grow my product and keep expanding it and so I hope that by the end of it I'll be able to deploy this project as well just have a community of like-minded people that I can bounce ideas off of and just spend time with to share different cool things.
Are you excited about your work in terms of where you see yourself with this work, let's say in five years?
I'm super excited about this work and the future of it. In 5 years I'd probably see myself hopefully having this solution deployed. I'm really excited especially over the next couple of months to figure out some of the logistics in terms of building out the solution, creating a real prototype that I could hold and then potentially working with some people to make that a reality and testing out a pilot program and just bringing it to a market of people who need it.
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