Ananya Cleetus

I created a mental health crisis mobile app that allows users to prepare and respond to mental health emergencies with built-in customizable crisis plan tools, national and location-based emergency resources, CBT/DBT coping skills, and a virtual grounding box. Anemone was awarded by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and recently selected as a Carle Illinois Health MakerLab winner.

I developed a cost-effective 3D-printed prosthetic hand system that utilizes user haptic feedback to mimic hand movement. It was created using simulated tendons, flex sensor feedback, and an Arduino control system and tested with the Brown AM-ULA metric and motion capture tracking. It was selected for the White House Science Fair and World Maker Faire.

I built a social network for high school students to find mentors at universities and businesses for projects and career guidance. It was inspired by my own struggles as an engineer growing up in a family of artists. For Magikstra, I won the Carnegie Science Award for Start-Up Entrepreneur as the youngest ever recipient of the award.

I designed an improvement to the Indian Jaipur Foot, a prosthesis that is given away completely free to low-income residents. The improvement was based on a spring lever propulsion system and developed with the assistance of a mentor at Carnegie Mellon University.

I worked on a mental health app through the organization #NeverAgainTech to assist violence survivors with PTSD recovery, in addition to work on analyzing historical gun violence data. We have been featured in Forbes, Smithsonian, and NPR, as well as an upcoming Netflix documentary, “The Great Divide”.

I worked with a team at The Port at CERN to design a mobile-based Blockchain verification system in order to track the drug supply chain from manufacturer to consumer. We also created an automated peak analysis system as part of a low-cost drug-testing capillary electrophoresis device.

I started the Computer Science Mental Health Committee at UIUC that aims to improve mental health dialogue, wellbeing, and student resources within the CS Department. The committee hosts student events (such as educational mental health awareness talks and social de-stressing nights), develops policy initiatives related to student resources and faculty training, and promotes wellbeing through social media campaigns and partnerships. This year, we are also developing a mental health forum run by trained student responders in order to support peers in the community. If you are interested in getting involved, follow us on Facebook.