I’m Anvita Gupta, Bioinformatics Researcher, And This Is How I Work

We often look to veterans of life and business to share the wisdom they have accumulated during their career. Today, however, were looking towards the future, to a young woman of striking ambition. Anvita Gupta, 17, is a bioinformatics researcher, Intel Science Talent Search Finalist and a high school student.

The Intel Science Talent Search is a prestigious maths and science competition that encourages pre-college young adults to pursue challenging questions of science and solutions that will better humanity. To earn her spot as a finalist and a trip to Washington DC, Anvita used machine learning to identify promising new drugs for cancer, tuberculosis and Ebola. She has also taught herself eight programming languages, is the president of her high schools robotics team, and teaches a computer science class for middle school girls.

You know, I think its safe to say that Anvita has a promising future, and that ours will be better because of her research. We spoke with Anvita to learn a little about how she works

Location: Phoenix, Arizona Current Gig: High School Student, Bioinformatics Researcher One word that best describes how you work: Focused Current mobile device: Samsung Galaxy Current computer: Lenovo Thinkpad and MacBook Pro

Ubuntu, GIMP, Gmail and RStudio [a development environment for statistical computing -- ed.].

Wherever my computer is, thats where my workspace is! Usually I work at home at a gigantic desk that holds all my notebooks, a 32-inch Samsung monitor that I connect to my laptop, a large metal lamp and my USB mouse.

I try not to go on Facebook or email too much, and I set a time period to only concentrate on work. During that time period I am much more productive than usual!

I used Wunderlist for a while but it was too much trouble to log in every time. So I generally stick to Excel, or simple Post-It notes and a pen.

My headphones, judging by what I use the most.

Im pretty good at thinking of things in terms of connections and networks, and seeing objects in the context of the systems they are in. These skills really come in handy in my extracurricular activities, which include being a member of my high schools robotics team, and in teaching a computer science class for middle school girls that I started with funding from Google and the National Center for Women & IT. You can find out more about my club, LITAS at litas4girls.org.

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I'm Anvita Gupta, Bioinformatics Researcher, And This Is How I Work