Avi Gupta

A trivia lover, Avi won the 2019 Jeopardy! Teen Tournament, which aired in June 2019. Using his platform as Jeopardy! Teen Champion, Avi has partnered with the Knight Cancer Institute to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer research and early detection in honor of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. Avi founded and leads Project32, a student-run social startup that uses the power of education to tackle dental disease in youth. Since its inception in 2016, Project32 has provided thousands of dental hygiene kits to children in the U.S., India, Guatemala, and Haiti. As a student researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, Avi’s novel work on vascular disease and synthetic blood vessel design has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national conferences. Avi was designated an Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Finalist in 2019. In recognition of his accomplishments as a young scientist, Avi was an invited panelist at the 2019 ScienceFest Portland (formerly March for Science).

An avid chess player, Avi co-founded Catlin Gabel Chess. Under his leadership, Catlin Gabel Chess won several state and city championships, organized numerous tournaments, and worked to promote chess worldwide. In November 2018, Avi collaborated with the U.S. State Department to lead a delegation from Catlin Gabel Chess to Equatorial Guinea, which resulted in the official establishment of a national chess federation by the Equatoguinean government. Avi loves to play basketball and is a lifelong Portland Trail Blazers fan.

In recognition of his efforts, Avi has been honored with national and regional awards including the AXA Achievement Award, the Daily Point of Light Award (established by late President George H.W. Bush) and the Al Tauscher Teen Recognition Award. His accomplishments have been covered extensively by local and international media. At Columbia, Avi plans to pursue a degree in Computer Science, with a specialization in Intelligent Systems.