Young US Scientist In Forbes Under 30 List Meets AP CM YS Jagan

Amaravati: Taking time off from the last day of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Budget Sessions on Tuesday, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy met Meghana Chowdary Bollimpalli, an Indian-origin American student from Arkansas state.

At a young age of 17, Meghana Chowdary Bollimpalli was named among the ''Forbes 30 Under 30 list 2018", as well as winning the 2018 Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and prize money of USD 50,000 for her work in the field of clean energy.

A high school student, Meghana won the award for her work developing an inexpensive alternative to making electrodes, which are used in super-capacitors. Simply put, the innovative method helps in producing low-cost clean energy for batteries. She found that combining molasses, tea powder, and tannin with a small amount of phosphorus and nitrogen could perform similarly to an electrode made with platinum. The cost of this mix is less than a US dollar.

Her parents migrated to the USA from Unikili village in West Godavari district when she was two years old and are settled there. In a TED talk, Meghana had spoken about her passion for environmental sciences and clean energy developed during her trips to Andhra Pradesh. She would accompany her grandfather - whom she said was politician - in his trips and camps to find out about people's problems in the State.

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