Megha Joshi: Scientist, inventor, high school student

Remem­ber the name Megha Joshi because this 15 year old is going to change the world.

The TEDxSalem speak­er loves to dis­cov­er new solu­tions, dif­fer­ent ways to solve age-old prob­lems. As a sev­enth grad­er, she designed a solar-pow­ered water fil­tra­tion sys­tem to help future vic­tims of nat­ur­al dis­as­ters.

“Water is all around them,” she said about vic­tims of Hur­ri­cane Kat­ri­na, “but it’s dirty water. What if we came up with a fil­ter that could clean water eas­i­ly?”

Her design was one of the top 300 projects in a nation­al sci­ence fair. Two oth­er projects took top hon­ors at statewide com­pe­ti­tions since.

Her project “Save our Spines” answers the ques­tion of “why do teens have such bad pos­ture?” One answer: It’s the desks. The one-size-fits-all desk doesn’t work for bod­ies that range from 5 foot to 6 foot or more. Her redesign of the stu­dent desk earned her a $2,000 schol­ar­ship to Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty. She admits that schools aren’t like­ly to adopt the new desks because they cost more, but maybe some­day.

In the mean­time, she will keep com­ing up with solu­tions to prob­lems that cap­ture her imag­i­na­tion. Now she’s work­ing with researchers at OHSU Knight Can­cer Insti­tute to iden­ti­fy the gene that makes some cells resis­tant to can­cer treat­ment over time.

In her free time, she loves to play the vio­lin in the Salem Youth Sym­pho­ny and South Salem High School’s Cham­ber Orches­tra and Sym­pho­ny.

What’s her advice to girls con­sid­er­ing sci­ence?

“If you’re even think­ing about it or you’re inter­est­ed,” she said, “you should do it.”

Don’t be afraid of fail­ing, Joshi said. She fails all the time, but she doesn’t give up.

“That’s what makes the end part 10 times bet­ter.”

Get your tick­ets for TEDxSalem IV

Tick­ets are on sale now for Salem’s annu­al TEDx event Sat­ur­day, Jan­u­ary 7, 2017. Tick­ets are $50, $40 for stu­dents. The all-day event includes talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.us.