Lina Albitar

Jordanian educator building STEM schools in refugee camps across the Middle East

Lina Albitar is transforming education access for displaced children through her STEM for All initiative. This Jordanian engineer has established 28 tech-focused schools in refugee camps from Syria to Yemen, providing STEM education to over 15,000 students since 2019. Her innovative curriculum uses solar-powered Raspberry Pi computers and 3D printers donated through a partnership with Arduino.

Albitar's 2021 invention of the Portable Science Lab Kit - a $35 cardboard box containing all materials for 50 experiments - has been distributed to 800,000 students in conflict zones. Her TED Talk "Turning Refugee Camps into Innovation Zones" (2023) has garnered 3.4 million views and inspired similar programs in Bangladesh and Kenya.

In 2024, she launched the Global STEM Refugee Network, connecting students in camps with tech mentors from MIT and Stanford. This initiative produced 17 winners at the International Science and Engineering Fair in 2024, including 14-year-old Palestinian student Mahmoud Al-Sayed who developed a solar-powered water purifier now used in 120 Syrian camps. Albitar's work was featured in Time Magazine's 2023 list of "100 Most Influential People".