Hacking to Save the Planet
How Sanjana Paul is Applying Tech to Protect Our Environment
Sanjana Paul has always been drawn to STEM. Even from a young age, she was interested in being a scientist and as she got older, she realized her true passion was in climate research. Starting college, Sanjana realized the confluences of all her interests converged around physics and math. She decided to get her Bachelor’s in Physics and Electrical Engineering to get a strong foundation for all of her other STEM pursuits.
“I thought nothing is going to matter if we don’t have a planet for it to matter on and we’re in a climate crisis. So I knew I needed to do environmental work and I realized that it’s not a one size fits all. We all have a role to play. And I think that my role to play is [in engineering] because I’m good at it, and I love it so much.”
Whether it was as a Green Program Ambassador in Iceland or as a Conservation Innovation Fellow at Conservation X Labs, a digital makerspace dedicated to environmental conservation, Sanjana took advantage of a variety of internships, fellowships, and projects to explore how she could use her engineering skills to impact the environment. One of her proudest achievements was F.LO.A.T.I.B.O.I. (Floating Long-term Oceanic Autonomous Trawler Incorporating Buoyant Object Identification), a project she participated in through the Green Robotics Innovation Project, F.LO.A.T.I.B.O.I. is a robot that combats nearshore marine plastic pollution by using optical identification to collect marine plastic before it goes out to sea.
Today, Sanjana is channeling her engineering skills and love of the climate as a Junior Atmospheric Science Software Developer at NASA Langley Research Center.
Read the rest of her inspiring story (and others like it) at AnitaB.org.
This story was written by Natalia Gutierrez, Wogrammer Journalism Fellow. Connect with her on Linkedin. Support our mission to celebrate more amazing women in tech, like the one featured here, by donating to AnitaB.org.
