Engineering for the Future: A Conversation with MIT D-Lab Founder Amy Smith

by Amy Smith and Lex Schroeder

In this episode of WLEI Podcast, we welcome Amy Smith, Founding Director of MIT’s D-Lab, an innovative university-based program in international development and a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

The conversation explores:?

• The D-Lab’s approach to design and how this differs from other design methodologies
• What it means for engineers to truly work in partnership with local communities and listen to their needs
• How the D-Lab measures the success and impact of its projects
• Lean product and process development and how the D-Lab thinks about knowledge capture/sharing (to ensure that learnings from one project are leveraged in future initiatives)
• Amy Smith’s advice for engineering students who want to solve really tough problems