Amy B. Smith
Encyclopedia
Amy Smith is an American inventor, educator, and founder of D-Lab at MIT. She works to develop technologies and build creative capacity internationally.
Smith received her Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1984. Smith returned to MIT after the Peace Corps to get her master's degree in mechanical engineering.
serving four years as a volunteer in Botswana
. During her Peace Corps service she was struck by the fact that "the most needy are often the least empowered to invent solutions to their problems." While she was serving in the middle of the Kalahari Desert
, she decided what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. "At one point I had sort of an epiphany, sitting at my desk looking out over the bush, when I realized I wanted to do engineering for developing countries", Smith said. "In Botswana, I was teaching and then working for the ministry of agriculture as a beekeeper, and I remember thinking to myself that I really liked doing development work, but I wished could do some engineering too, because I like creative problem solving", says Smith. "People in the developing world scrape every last ounce of life that they can out of objects, and my students used to bring me things to fix, and I always enjoyed being able to do that."
for developing countries. She founded the D-Lab program at MIT which introduces students to technological, social, and economic problems of the Third World
. She also co-founded Innovations in International Health
to facilitate collaboration among researchers around the world to develop medical technologies for resource-poor settings. She teaches the courses SP.721/11.025: D-Lab: Development and SP.722/2.722: D-Lab Design. She has taught in the past 2.72: Elements of Mechanical Design.
Smith encourages women to become engineers although she dislikes being referred to as a woman engineer. "Actually, because my class involves humanitarian engineering
, I very rarely have more men than women. There have been times where there have been ten women and one man. This isn't surprising, given that women often want to see an application to what they're learning that they feel is worthwhile", says Smith. "But I'm not involved in any particular projects to encourage women engineers, because I dislike being referred to as a woman engineer. I don't like programs that single out woman engineers as particular achievers just for being women. I think that it should be coincidental."
and the phase-change incubator
, and she is also involved with the application of the Malian peanut sheller
in Africa. She is also one of the founders of the popular MIT IDEAS Competition.
In 2000 Smith won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize that honors inventors who are also good role models. Smith is the first woman to win the prize.
WorldChanging reported on August 14, 2007 that the results from the first International Development Design Summit (IDDS) had been very positive with end products including an off-grid refrigeration unit tailored for rural areas using an evaporative cooling method to store perishable food and a low-cost greenhouse from recycled and widely available materials.
More information on projects from IDDS can be found here.
Early life and education
Amy Smith was born in Lexington, Massachusetts. Smith's father, Arthur Smith, was an electrical engineering professor at MIT. Arthur Smith took his family to India for a year when Amy was growing up while he worked at a university there. "I think that set a lot of things in motion for her. It's very different from growing up in a Boston suburb", he said. Smith says that being exposed to severe poverty as a child made her want to do something to help kids around the world. "Living in India is something that stayed with me—I could put faces on the kids who had so little money."Smith received her Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1984. Smith returned to MIT after the Peace Corps to get her master's degree in mechanical engineering.
Peace Corps service
Smith joined the Peace CorpsPeace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
serving four years as a volunteer in Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
. During her Peace Corps service she was struck by the fact that "the most needy are often the least empowered to invent solutions to their problems." While she was serving in the middle of the Kalahari Desert
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa extending , covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert...
, she decided what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. "At one point I had sort of an epiphany, sitting at my desk looking out over the bush, when I realized I wanted to do engineering for developing countries", Smith said. "In Botswana, I was teaching and then working for the ministry of agriculture as a beekeeper, and I remember thinking to myself that I really liked doing development work, but I wished could do some engineering too, because I like creative problem solving", says Smith. "People in the developing world scrape every last ounce of life that they can out of objects, and my students used to bring me things to fix, and I always enjoyed being able to do that."
Academic career
She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT specializing in engineering design and appropriate technologyAppropriate technology
Appropriate technology is an ideological movement originally articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr...
for developing countries. She founded the D-Lab program at MIT which introduces students to technological, social, and economic problems of the Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
. She also co-founded Innovations in International Health
Innovations in International Health
Innovations in International Health is an innovation platform that facilitates multidisciplinary research to develop medical technologies for developing world settings...
to facilitate collaboration among researchers around the world to develop medical technologies for resource-poor settings. She teaches the courses SP.721/11.025: D-Lab: Development and SP.722/2.722: D-Lab Design. She has taught in the past 2.72: Elements of Mechanical Design.
Smith encourages women to become engineers although she dislikes being referred to as a woman engineer. "Actually, because my class involves humanitarian engineering
Humanitarian Engineering
Humanitarian engineering may be defined as 'research and design under constraints to directly improve the wellbeing of marginalized communities'. What is most distinctive about this type of engineering is its targeted audience - those that might be classified as 'marginalized, or under-served'...
, I very rarely have more men than women. There have been times where there have been ten women and one man. This isn't surprising, given that women often want to see an application to what they're learning that they feel is worthwhile", says Smith. "But I'm not involved in any particular projects to encourage women engineers, because I dislike being referred to as a woman engineer. I don't like programs that single out woman engineers as particular achievers just for being women. I think that it should be coincidental."
Inventions
Smith's designs include the screenless hammer millScreenless hammer mill
The screenless hammer mill, like regular hammer mills, is used to pound grain. However, rather than a screen, it uses air flow to separate small particles from larger ones....
and the phase-change incubator
Phase-change incubator
The phase-change incubator is a low-cost, low-maintenance incubator to help test for microorganisms in water supplies. It uses small balls containing a chemical compound that, when heated and then kept insulated, will stay at 37°C for 24 hours....
, and she is also involved with the application of the Malian peanut sheller
Malian peanut sheller
The Universal Nut Sheller is a simple hand-operated machine based on a Bulgarian Peanut sheller, capable of shelling of raw, sun-dried peanuts per hour....
in Africa. She is also one of the founders of the popular MIT IDEAS Competition.
In 2000 Smith won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize that honors inventors who are also good role models. Smith is the first woman to win the prize.
Motorized hammermill
Smith invented a motorized hammermill that converts grain into flour which she successfully tested in Senegal. The problem with other motor-driven mills is that the screen that filters out rocks and coins could not be made locally and it could take several months to get a new screen. Smith's mill sifted out finished flour aerodynamically using a simpler design that could be manufactured locally by village blacksmiths. "It's nice when looking at things differently is a good thing, and not something where you get zero credit on a problem", Smith said. Smith planned to use some of the prize money from the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize to produce and distribute the mills.Phase change incubator
Smith worked on an incubator that requires no electricity. The device was originally designed to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases. The phase change incubator won the 1999 B.F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventor's Award for $20,000. Smith planned to start a company around the incubator. "I'm not a person who likes money, so whether it makes a profit is neither here nor there", Smith said. "I didn't want to be in the position of closing down the product because it wasn't making money. That's not the point of the product."IDEAS competition
Smith co-founded the MIT IDEAS Competition where teams of student engineers design projects to make life easier in the developing world. "Some of the IDEAS competition winners have been very successful", says Smith. "The compound water filter, which removes arsenic and pathogens, is now deployed quite extensively in Nepal. The Kinkajou microfilm projector, used in nighttime literacy classes, is being deployed in Mali. We’re working to commercialize a system for testing water for potability. It's in the field in several countries, but not on a widespread basis. We're looking towards doing a trial of aerosol vaccines in Pakistan, so that's exciting."International Development Design Summit
Smith is one of the lead organizers of the International Development Design Summit, held annually to study problems in the developing world and create real, workable solutions to them. "I believe very strongly that solutions to problems in the developing world are best created in collaboration with the people who will be using them", Smith said. "By bringing this group of people together, we get an incredibly broad range of backgrounds and experiences.WorldChanging reported on August 14, 2007 that the results from the first International Development Design Summit (IDDS) had been very positive with end products including an off-grid refrigeration unit tailored for rural areas using an evaporative cooling method to store perishable food and a low-cost greenhouse from recycled and widely available materials.
More information on projects from IDDS can be found here.
Awards
- Collegiate Inventors Award, 1999 (for the phase-change incubator)
- First woman to win the Lemelson-MIT Student PrizeLemelson-MIT PrizeThe Lemelson Foundation awards several prizes yearly to inventors in United States. The largest is the Lemelson-MIT Prize which was endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, and is administered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
, in 2000. - MacArthur Fellowship, 2004-2009.
- Time Magazine named Amy Smith one of their Time 100Time 100Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.-History and format:...
Most Influential People for 2010 in the Thinkers category
External links
- D-Lab Website
- IDDS Website
- 2010 Time 100, Thinkers: Amy Smith - Time Magazine article
- Amy Smith - 2000 Student Prize Winner Describes some other inventions (including a technology for diagnosing tuberculosis, and a clamp to regulate intravenous drips), as at February 2000.
- Necessity Is the Mother of Invention - New York Times article.
- A MacGyver for the Third World - Wired article
- Design that Matters article on an MIT website
- Peace Corps biography of Amy Smith
- Amy Smith is one of the lead organizers of first International Development Design Summit
- MIT Report: Amy Smith in Ghana Full Belly Blog entry, 2/2/2006
- Video of Amy Smith discussing her inventions including eco-friendly charcoal and a laboratory incubator which doesn't require electricity. Presented at the TED ConferenceTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
(February 2006) Monterey, CA. Duration 15:48 - Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention
- Amy's Outdated Home Page