Hey, I'm Millena👋

I am an aspiring scientist and youngest Brazilian Forbes Under 30. I started engaging in science olympiads without school support and saw it was a common struggle of people in my community. So, I created PrepOlimpiadas to help other students from far corners of Brazil. Currently, Prep is the largest Brazilian NGO coordinated by a high schooler. After years, I got into a more supportive scientific environment: Coluni (#1 Federal National School). There, I stumbled upon a problem by observing a friend discovering ASD with 18 years old: the lack of acessibility in autism diagnosis for rural communities. So, I used the knowledge I had from tech olympiads to build Autinosis, an AI powered diagnostic tool that helps in the first step of the long autism screening process. The next version of Autinosis I am working on will capture data on facial expressions, gaze patterns, and motor skills, making the first step of the screening more accessible, while reducing disparities in diagnosis.

About me

🏆I was named the youngest Forbes Under 30 by Forbes in the 'Science and Education' category. (Link🔗)

📓I study at Coluni #1 public school in the country. (Link🔗)

💡I am a RISE Global Winner 2024. Rise provides lifelong support, mentorship, and resources to develop impactful projects. (Link🔗)

🧩 I developed a platform using AI to help in the first step of the autism screening process (Autinosis). Silver medal at ICYS, the 3rd biggest science fair in the world.

🇧🇷 I am a top 10 Finalist of the Global Student Prize, also known as the Student Nobel Prize, organized by Chegg and Varkey Foundation. Only Brazilian that made it to the top 50 and 10. (Link🔗)

🏅 I founded the largest Brazilian NGO about science olympiads, PrepOlimpiadas. (Link🔗)

💻I qualified to represent Brazil at the IOAI 2024 (International AI Olympiad in Bulgaria).

✨I was the winner of the Prudential Emerging Visionaries Award: I earned a paid trip to New York to represent Brazil. (Link🔗)

🎙️I was invited to speak at B3 (the Brazilian Stock Exchange); Hotmart FIRE Festival (the largest Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Digital Marketing Event in Latin America) and at 'The Noite com Danilo Gentili' (the biggest talk show in Brazil, the fourth biggest nighttime talk show in the world, and the largest Brazilian entertainment channel with over 1 billion views.).

🔬 I was a finalist in a prize given by the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC).

🥇I won +38 awards in science olympiads, and was invited to speak at various events. My favorite area is tech and science: I have 2 🥇 in the National Science Olympiad, 1 🥇 in Artificial Intelligence Olympiad, 1 🥇 in Informatics Olympiad, 2🥇 in Technology Olympiad

Press (More on @Press)

Forbes🔗

CNN🔗

Forbes🔗

I've been featured in two books: Lumos and The Future is STEM, and I wrote my own: They Make the Future: 30 young people who are changing Brazil through science.

📌 Currently working on: low-cost diagnostic tools for autism and making science accessible to rural children

💡In the future: I want to lead a company about computational tools in early diagnosis of psychiatric disorders and be a Board Member at PrepOlimpiadas Foundation to fund science programs in remote areas

News: Check out the documentary LALA (Latin American Leadership Academy) made about me!

I'm a researcher 🔬

My main research interests are: Image and video processing, computer vision, biomedical imaging, brain imaging, computational tools in early diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, scientific computation, learning and high dimensional data analysis. My main cause is to provide low-cost diagnosis to rural communities. Currently, I am a CNPq funded Researcher working on a ML algorithm to help in the first step of autism screening process. I participate actively in science fairs with my projects: a finalist at FEBIC 2022 (Brazilian Fair of Scientific Initiation); 1st place in the Innovation Marathon of FBJC 2022 (Brazilian Fair of Young Scientists); finalist in FECITEC 2022 (Fair of Science, Technology, Education, and Culture), and exhibitor at the IV Symposium of Post-Graduation 2022 (UFV); 2nd place at FECITEC 2023.

I'm a tech girl 👩‍💻

Autinosis is my main work in the area of tech and health. I have also participated in a bunch of competitions: due to my work in the Technovation Girls Global tournament, I was selected to be one of the 8 national ambassadors. I have contributed with +4 apps for various programming competitions. She was the first Brazilian to receive a full scholarship for an Extension Program at the University of Toronto (2021), as well as for a program for girls in physics and programming at Stanford (2022), and a 12-week course at UWC (United World Colleges) on Science, Progress, and Society (2022).

I'm socially engaged⚡️

I am the founder of Prep Olimpíadas (the largest Olympic NGO in Brazil, which prepares students for national Olympiads), where I have already impacted +100.000 students and engaged over 300 volunteers throughout Brazil. She also founded and is the director of the National Science Conference, which involves hundreds of students from all over Brazil annually. She is also a member of the coordination team in the organization Lidere-se, which empowers girls in the field of technology. In this organization, she has represented Brazil in a UN program (CONCAUSA) and has spoken at the National Conference on Gender Equity (CNEG), with the support of the Secretary of Education of Rio de Janeiro.

In all environments I will have the opportunity to be, I hope to give a unique perspective as a latina from the countryside of Brazil who is driving innovation in neurotech and science democratization, while empowering other to do the same. 😀🔎

I'm a SciOlympiad medalist🏅

38 awards in Olympiads, including: 1st place overall in the Brazilian Olympiad in Informatics (OBI) and Technology (OBT) for two times in a row; gold medal in Brazilian AI Olympiad; two gold medals in the Astronomy Olympiad (OBA) and two gold medals at National Science Olympiad (ONC); gold in the International Mathematical Without Borders Olympiad (OISMF) and 4th place in the Singapore Computational Thinking Olympiad (DrCT), as well as in three other International STEM Olympiads.

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