Amy B. Smith

{{Short description|American inventor and engineer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2014}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Amy B. Smith | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1962|11|04|mf=y}} | birth_place = Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | residence = | fields = | workplaces = Peace Corps, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | alma_mater = Massachusetts Institute of Technology | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = MacArthur Fellowship | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = | spouse = }}

'''Amy Smith''' (born November 4, 1962)<ref>"Smith, Amy", in ''A to Z of Women in Science and Math'', by Lisa Yount (Infobase Publishing, 2007) p 275.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2018}} is an American inventor, educator, and founder of the MIT D-Lab and senior lecturer of mechanical engineering at MIT.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amy Smith |url=https://d-lab.mit.edu/about/people/amy-smith |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=d-lab.mit.edu |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Smith was born in Lexington, Massachusetts.<ref name="harvard">{{cite web|url=http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/itg/Health/participant.htm|website=cyber.law.harvard.edu|title=eHealth in Developing Countries|access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref> Her father, Arthur Smith, was an electrical engineering professor at MIT.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> Arthur Smith took his family to India for a year when Amy was growing up while he worked at a university there.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> "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.<ref name=PCOLBoston>[http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2000/02/28/story4.html "Technology as a form of altruism"] by Roberta Holland, ''Boston Business Journal'', February 25, 2000</ref> Smith says that being exposed to severe poverty as a child made her want to do something to help kids around the world.<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/interview-smith.html?c=y&page=2 "Interview: Amy Smith, Inventor"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923170716/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/interview-smith.html?c=y&page=2 |date=September 23, 2009 }} by Amy Crawford, ''Smithsonian'' magazine, September 1, 2006</ref> "Living in India is something that stayed with me—I could put faces on the kids who had so little money."<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/>

Smith received her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1984.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> Smith returned to MIT after the Peace Corps to get her master's degree in mechanical engineering.<ref name=PCOLBoston/>

==Peace Corps service== Smith joined the Peace Corps serving four years as a volunteer in Botswana.<ref name=PCOLWorldnews/> 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."<ref name=PCOLWorldnews>[http://www.namibian.com.na/2004/october/world/04732B289F.html "A MacGyver for the Third World"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060104080230/http://www.namibian.com.na/2004/october/world/04732B289F.html |date=January 4, 2006 }} by Kari Lynn Dean, ''World News'', October 22, 2004</ref> While she was serving in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, she decided what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> "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.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> "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.<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/> "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."<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/>

==Academic career== She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT specializing in engineering design and appropriate technology for developing countries. She founded the [http://d-lab.mit.edu/ MIT D-Lab] program, which works with people around the world to develop and advance collaborative approaches and practical solutions to global poverty challenges. D-Lab's mission is pursued through an academics program of more than 20 MIT courses and student research and fieldwork opportunities; research groups spanning a variety of sectors and approaches; and a group of participatory innovation programs they call innovation practice.

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. In the past, she has taught 2.72: Elements of Mechanical Design.

Smith encourages women to become engineers although she dislikes being referred to as a woman engineer.<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/> "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.<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/> "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."<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/>

==Inventions== Smith's designs include the screenless hammer mill and the phase-change incubator, and she is also involved with the application of the Malian peanut sheller in Africa.<ref name="blogspot">{{cite web|url=https://fullbellyblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/mit-report-amy-smith-in-ghana.html|website=fullbellyblog.blogspot.com|title=2006/02/mit-report-amy-smith-in-ghana|access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref> She is also one of the founders of the popular MIT IDEAS Competition. In 2000 Smith won the Lemelson–MIT Student Prize, which honors inventors who are also good role models.<ref name=PCOLBoston/>

===Motorized hammermill===

Smith invented a motorized hammermill that converts grain into flour which she successfully tested in Senegal.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> 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.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> Smith planned to use some of the prize money from the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize to produce and distribute the mills.<ref name=PCOLBoston/>

===Phase change incubator===

Smith worked on an incubator that requires no electricity.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> The device was originally designed to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> 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.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> "I'm not a person who likes money, so whether it makes a profit is neither here nor there", Smith said.<ref name=PCOLBoston/> "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."<ref name=PCOLBoston/>

===Corn sheller=== {{Main|Universal nut sheller}} With other members of D-Lab and community partners,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://d-lab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/CornSheller_BG.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=August 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624015953/http://d-lab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/CornSheller_BG.pdf |archive-date=June 24, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Smith has developed a small, easy-to-make corn sheller "for removing the dried kernels from an ear of corn. The corn sheller can be either cast in aluminum or made from a sheet of metal."<ref name="mit">{{cite web|url=http://d-lab.mit.edu/resources|title=Resources | MIT D-Lab|website=d-lab.mit.edu|access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref> More information on the corn sheller including instructions on how to make it is available under a Creative Commons License at the [http://d-lab.mit.edu/resources D-Lab Resources page].

==IDEAS competition== Smith co-founded the MIT IDEAS Competition where teams of student engineers design projects to make life easier in the developing world.<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/> "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."<ref name=PCOLSmithsonian/>

==International Development Design Summit== {{main|International Development Design Summit}} Smith is one of the lead organizers of the International Development Design Summit (IDDS), held annually to study problems in the developing world and create real, workable solutions to them.<ref name=PCOLMitnews/> "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.<ref name=PCOLMitnews/> "By bringing this group of people together, we get an incredibly broad range of backgrounds and experiences."<ref name=PCOLMitnews>[http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/iddesignsummit-0713.html "Making a difference in the developing world"] by Heather Manning, ''MIT News'', July 13, 2007.]</ref>

''WorldChanging'' reported on August 14, 2007 that the results from the first International Development Design Summit had been very positive with end products including an off-grid refrigeration unit tailored for rural areas using an evaporation based cooling method to store perishable food and a low-cost greenhouse from recycled and widely available materials.<ref name=PCOLWorldchanging>[http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007106.html "South-South Design Flourishes at MIT Summit"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070826185714/http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007106.html |date=August 26, 2007 }} by Jonathon Greenblatt, ''World Changing''. August 14, 2007</ref>

More information on projects from IDDS can be found here.

==Rethink Relief Design Workshop== Smith was instrumental in creating the Rethink Relief Design Workshop in 2011. Rethink Relief is "dedicated to creating technologies for humanitarian relief that specifically address the gap between short-term relief and long-term sustainable development."<ref name="Rethink Relief About page">{{cite web|title=Rethink Relief - About|url=http://www.rethinkrelief.com/wordpress/?page_id=64|access-date=May 27, 2012}}</ref>

The workshop was co-organized in October 2011 by industrial design faculty at the Delft University of Technology and the D-Lab of MIT. It brought together 26 people to explore the differences in thinking between relief organizations, development organizations, and designers. Groups worked throughout the week to create concepts and prototypes to address challenges in relief work. These addressed clean water availability, re-purposing of aid materials, transportation challenges, and first aid supply logistics.<ref name="Rethink Relief Projects page">{{cite web|title=Rethink Relief Projects|url=http://www.rethinkrelief.com/wordpress/?page_id=2|access-date=May 27, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503104829/http://www.rethinkrelief.com/wordpress/?page_id=2|archive-date=May 3, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Creative Capacity Building== Smith and colleagues at D-Lab have been working on a new type of curriculum - Creative Capacity Building or CCB. The purpose of CCB is to place "the expertise in the village instead of at MIT."<ref name="mit2">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/d-lab-0506.html|title=In the World: Cultivating creativity | MIT News|website=web.mit.edu|date=May 9, 2011 |access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref>

The CCB curriculum teaches the design process without expecting strong literacy or other academic training.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://aisetanzania.tumblr.com/CCB |title=What is CCB? |access-date=August 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810022422/http://aisetanzania.tumblr.com/CCB |archive-date=August 10, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The goal is for individuals, groups and communities to be able to not only articulate their needs but to design and build solutions.

== Awards == * Collegiate Inventors Award, 1999 (for the phase-change incubator) * First woman to win the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, in 2000. * MacArthur Fellowship, 2004–2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/747/|title=Amy Smith - MacArthur Foundation|website=www.macfound.org|language=en|access-date=August 12, 2018}}</ref> * ''Time'' magazine named Amy Smith one of their ''Time'' 100 Most Influential People for 2010 in the Thinkers category

==References== {{Reflist|35em}}

==Further reading== *{{cite web |title=Amy B. Smith |url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/amy-b-smith |website=Lemelson-MIT}}

==External links== * [http://d-lab.mit.edu D-Lab website] * [http://idin.org IDIN website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100502132904/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984745_1984806,00.html "2010 ''Time'' 100, Thinkers: Amy Smith"]. ''Time'' magazine * [https://web.archive.org/web/20030415215244/http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-winners/a-smith.html 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. * [http://www.umsl.edu/~sauter/analysis/creativity/30MIT.html "Necessity Is the Mother of Invention"]. ''New York Times'' * [https://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65276,00.html?tw=wn_story_related "A MacGyver for the Third World"]. ''Wired'' article * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060101161727/http://web.media.mit.edu/~nitin/thinkcycle/notes/dtm_feb20.html "Design that Matters"] article on the MIT website * [http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2030595.html Peace Corps biography of Amy Smith] * [http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/iddesignsummit-0713.html Amy Smith is one of the lead organizers of first International Development Design Summit] * [https://fullbellyblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/mit-report-amy-smith-in-ghana.html MIT Report: Amy Smith in Ghana] Full Belly Blog entry, February 2, 2006 * {{TED speaker}} ** [https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_smith_simple_designs_to_save_a_life Video] of Amy Smith discussing her inventions including eco-friendly charcoal and a laboratory incubator which doesn't require electricity. Presented at the TED Conference (February 2006) Monterey, CA. Duration 15:48 * [http://web.mit.edu/mmadinot/www/home.html Amy's outdated home page]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Amy B.}} Category:Appropriate technology advocates Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:MIT School of Engineering faculty Category:Development specialists Category:Pew Fellows in the Arts Category:American women inventors Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni