Co-Founder
Keep the Bay Beautiful
Fremont, California, United States
Anandika (Ana) Carthikeyan is a rising junior at Irvington High School in Fremont, California and co-founder of Keep the Bay Beautiful and Golden State STEM.
Ana's journey towards environmental consciousness and activism gained momentum when she moved to the
Bay Area from Texas. Surrounded by the region's natural beauty, she became increasingly aware of the need to protect and preserve our planet for future generations. She worked with her brother to properly dispose of over 75,000 pounds of electronic waste in the past 4 years.
Through Keep the Bay Beautiful, she is on a mission to spread awareness about proper waste recycling and reduce the harmful emissions posed by electronic waste in our community. This includes the set up of e-waste drives in centers all over the Bay Area, as well as partnership events with e-waste companies, libraries, and temples, collecting tens of thousands of pounds in electronic waste. These events are also intended to offer convenience to citizens, hosting these collections for free and in convenient public places where citizens can dispose of their waste quickly.
At Golden State STEM, Ana plays a major role in developing workshops and events that focus on all aspects of robotics, including programming, hands-on building, and graphic design using CAD. By hosting these programs that require no experience, these events bridge the gap in education and provide equal opportunities for all. This organization is also heavily geared towards involvement and networking with other local entities for their events, including libraries, nonprofits for youth benefit, and engineering companies in the Silicon Valley.
Ana is also working as a student intern this summer with the Stanford University Civil & Environmental Engineering Department. She is working on studying behavioral patterns of electricity usage and identifying insights that will lead to power conservation.
Ana hopes to educate others about technology’s enthralling applications, but also work towards reducing its environmental costs through her flourishing interest and experience in STEM. She also hopes to inspire other young individuals to want to raise awareness and educate others about growing societal issues, even if they are still students.
Disclosure information not submitted.
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
11:00 AM – 11:40 AM PDT