Sahithi Pingali, a twelfth standard student from Bengaluru’s Inventure Academy, is on cloud nine after a minor planet was named after her. Pingali joins an elite group of people having their names named after stars in the Milky Way Galaxy after she won the prestigious international science award for her work in improving the quality of water. She won the rare distinction after she shined at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held in Los Angeles, earlier this month.
She won the gold medal for her research on 'An Innovative Crowdsourcing Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Bodies' which was based on Bengaluru lakes. The Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which owns the right to name minor planets, decided to name a planet after her.
At the science fair finals, the 16-year-old won three special awards out of 21 awards won by the Indian contingent. She was also awarded “overall second place” in the Earth and Environment Sciences category. “I definitely didn’t see this coming. I was expecting one special award at most. I haven’t yet digested the fact that I have a planet named after me,” she said.
Pingali is currently interning at the University of Michigan, working in collaboration with PhD students and professors in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. Earlier this month, her work on Varthur Lake has earned her a Gold Medal at the International Sustainable World Engineering Energy Environment Project (ISWEEEP) Olympiad held at Houston in the US.
