TEDTALK: AMY SMITH
TED Technology Entertainment Design, BMW, 2006
"MIT engineer Amy Smith designs ingenious low-cost devices to tackle tough problems in developing countries. She received a MacArthur "Genius" Grant in 2004, and was the first woman to win MIT's famed Lemelson Prize. In this talk, she explains the vision behind her inventions, which include eco-friendly charcoal and a laboratory incubator that doesn't require electricity. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 15:48)"
She discusses how MIT handled problems of briquette compressibility at MIT and Haiti to burn longer and cleaner than wood charcoal which commands revenues of $260 million in Haiti.
Smith comments that she is also working on low cost water testing and low cost water treatment. She has 30 students per year that work on implementation of these projects overseas.