Olivia Hallisey is an American scientist at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Previously, she attended

Greenwich High School Greenwich High School is a four-year public high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The school is part of the Greenwich Public Schools system and serves roughly 2,700 students. It offers over 295 courses and a wide variety of co-cu ...

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

. While a junior in high school, she won first prize in the 2015

Google Science Fair The Google Science Fair was a worldwide (excluding Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Myanmar/Burma, Syria, Zimbabwe and any other U.S. sanctioned country) online science competition sponsored by Google, Lego, Virgin Galactic, National Geographic ...

for inventing a low-cost, rapid test for

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...

. The prize also came with $50,000. According to Hallisey, her test can be completed in as little as 30 minutes at a cost of $25, and, unlike existing ebola detection methods, does not require refrigeration. She became interested in fighting Ebola while watching the

2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and S ...

in which thousands of people died.

References

* Heather Won Tesoriero, ''The Class: A Life-Changing Teacher, His World-Changing Kids, and the Most Inventive Classroom in America'' (2018) has several chapters on her high school career.
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People from Greenwich, Connecticut Living people American women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Greenwich High School alumni Stanford University alumni 21st-century American women {{US-scientist-stub