MIT’s Amy Smith on appropriate engineering, Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, California. Food, water, medicine — in the developing world, these basic needs can be impossible to meet. Amy Smith and her students design smart, low cost tools to improve the life of the poorest in our world.
I remember traveling with my father as he worked on appropriate technology projects while I was growing up. Engineers can make huge difference to truly improve people’s lives. The video does a nice job of explaining how combining engineering know how with a passion for improving people’s lives have a huge impact. Amy Smith is a MacArthur Fellow (2004-2009)
Related: KickStart (article on Kickstart: Stanford Engineering to Social Innovation) – Segway Inventor working on bringing water and electricity to the world’s poor
Kiva provides loans through partners (operating in the countries) to the entrepreneurs…
[...] Shawn Frayne’s Windbelt Wins Popular Mechanics 2007 Breakthrough Award Frayne’s device consists of a flat, taut membrane that flutters within its housing as air passes through it. At each end of the membrane are magnets that oscillate between metal coils as the band flutters, effectively creating an electric charge. According to the 28-year-old Frayne, prototypes of the Windbelt have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines. … Frayne, now based in Mountain View, Calif., gathered a variety of lessons while studying at MIT, especially under the tutelage of Amy Smith (a 2004 MacArthur fellow) in her “D-Lab” class. In this design lab, Frayne learned the politics of delivering technology to poor nations, as well as the technical aspects of mechanical engineering. [...]
…ingenious technique that requires no external energy supply to preserve fruit, vegetables and other perishables in hot, arid climates. The pot-in-pot cooling system, a kind of “desert refrigerator”…
You cannot look into the eyes of a child who is dying from a disease caused by drinking dirty water — something that rarely, if ever, happens in the United States — and not feel changed. You cannot stand before her parents without thinking, “I’m an engineer. There must be something I can do.”
The charcoal project is the responsibility of Mary Hong, a 19-year-old branching out beyond her aerospace major this semester. She and the other students, coincidentally all women, are enrolled in Smith’s D-Lab, a course that is becoming quietly famous beyond the MIT campus…
Engineers realized this untapped energy source by creating The PlayPump, a simple machine powered by kids at play.
[...] Engineering a Better World – High School Inventor Teams @ MIT – Engineers Without Borders – Kiva Fellows Blog: Nepalese [...]
Above article is really nice explaining how engineering makes world beautiful.
There is a great book out there called Manufacturing a Better Future for America that anyone who is interested in the revitalization of manufacturing must read. America needs to be reminded that manufacturing is what built our economy so many years ago, and that we should look to it once more to drag us out of the economic mess our country is facing.
Furthermore, the economic mindset of our government and our business leaders needs to be shifted. The practice of offshoring production has rendered millions of Americans jobless and angry. This book justifies why jobs need to stay on American soil, and how a paradigm shift in business economics is needed to prevent this recession from repeating itself. All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to help bandage up our broken economy.
that’s a great article. I think that the engineering feats of this time has changed the world operates. In Dubai, they have a man-made river. Whoever thought anyone could do that?Sa