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2000 Student Prize Winner
Though Amy Smith—who won the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student
Prize in 2000—has displayed an inventive imagination since
childhood, it was only after four years as a Peace Corps volunteer
in Botswana that she found her true calling. Struck by the fact
that "the most needy are often the least empowered to invent
solutions to their problems," Smith decided to apply her engineering
and design skills to invent low-tech devices with appropriate technologies
for use in developing countries.
Smith designed her screenless grain hammermill after observing
the women in Botswana manually grinding grain because the machine
to perform this task—a motorized hammermill—used a screen
to collect the flour that often broke and was too expensive to replace
since it wasn't available locally. Using aerodynamics, Smith
designed a hammermill that doesn't require a screen, is one-fourth
the cost of traditional designs, requires less manpower and produces
a better quality product. Because she wanted her mill to be accessible
for use in developing countries, Smith didn't patent her design.
Simplicity and reliability are the keys to Smith's designs
for appropriate technologies, which also include a phase-change
laboratory incubator that doesn't require electricity or rely
on delicate instruments. Smith recently created a non-profit organization
called A Drop in the Bucket to distribute and train people on using
her incubators for testing water quality.
Among Smith's other inventions are a microscope slide warmer,
which uses phase change technology to diagnose tuberculosis; a clamp
to regulate the flow of intravenous fluids, which enables nurses
to serve more patients during an epidemic; and her first patent,
the Smart Canister—an automatic dispenser, which assembles
all the dry ingredients for a particular recipe.
Smith has a history of devoting her time to helping others, whether
in designing appropriate technologies or serving the community.
She has volunteered at a soup kitchen and a food bank, in addition
to tutoring high school students and coaching in the Special Olympics.
The first female Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner, Smith received
her B.S. (1984) and M.S. (1995) in mechanical engineering from MIT
and is currently working toward an M.S. in technology and policy.
She also won the National Inventor's Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventors
Competition (1999).
Smith is presently an instructor at MIT's Edgerton Center where she co-founded the International Development Initiative that allows MIT students to gain hands-on engineering education and community service experience through international development projects. She also runs the IDEAS Competition, co-developed with Sally Susnowitz of MIT, which encourages teams to develop and implement projects that make a positive change in the world. Entries are judged on their innovation, feasibility, and community impact.
Current Update:
Smith received a 2006 spring grant from MIT's Deshpande Center for
Technological Innovation to further develop an incubator she designed
to test for bacterial contamination in water.
Web Links:
IDEAS Competition
Edgerton Center
2005 Innovation Forum
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