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Associate Professor
Amos Winter
Interests
- Engineering Global Development
- Design for Highly Constrained Environments
- Machine and Product Design
Professor Winter News + Media
Water is Life
As overpopulation and lack of rainfall fuel a crisis-level need in rural India for affordable drinking water, PhD candidate Natasha Wright and Assistant Professor Amos Winter work to design a low-cost desalination system, guided by insight from their extensive in-the-field research.
Low-cost prosthetic foot mimics natural walking
Associate Professor Amos Winter and former graduate student Kathryn Olesnavage have developed a simple, low-cost, passive prosthetic foot that can be tailored to an individual’s body weight and size.
Robots shoot for the moon in MIT’s annual 2.007 competition
Robotic sweepers, flappers, and telescoping arms face off at MechE’s annual 2.007 competition.
Faculty Details
Education
-
2003
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
B.S. -
2005
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)
S.M. -
2011
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)
Ph.D.
Research Interests
- Mechanical and Mechanism Design
- Product Design
- Design for Emerging Markets and Developing Countries
- Reverse Innovation and Cross-Cultural Technology Transfer
- Biologically-Inspired Design
- Fluid, Solid, Soil Mechanics
- Biomechanics
- Medical Device Design
- Assistive Technology
- Water Purification
- Agricultural Technologies
- Automotive Technologies
- Design of Ocean Systems
Online Data
- Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Laboratory: (http://gear.mit.edu/)
- Personal Website: (http://www.amoswinter.com)
- Global Research Innovation and Technology (GRIT): (http://gogrit.org/index.html)
- Tata Center for Technology and Design at MIT: (http://tatacenter.mit.edu/)
Honors + Awards
- 2018 Inaugural Cohort of New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- The 2016 - 2017 MIT Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award
- The 2017 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award
- The 2017 MIT School of Engineering Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching
- Named one of the 2016 Boston Globe Game Changers
- McKinsey Award, for the best article in Harvard Business Review in the past year
- 2015, USAID Desal Prize, First Place
- 2014, Freudenstein/General Motors Young Investigator Award, ASME IDETC Mechanisms and Robotics Conference
- 2014, USAID Desal Prize, Semifinalist
- 2013, TR35, named one of the 35 innovators under the age of 35 by the MIT Technology Review
- 2012, Featured talk on TED global website, "Amos Winter: The Cheap All-Terrain Wheelchair," November 20, 2012. http://www.ted.com/talks/amos_winter_the_cheap_all_terrain_wheelchair.html
- 2012, Rockefeller Foundation $100k Innovation Challenge Winner
- 2012, Mass Challenge Startup Competition, $100k Diamond Prize Winner, awarded to Global Research Innovation and Technology
- 2012, Fast Company Magazine Innovation by Design Award, Concept Category, for Leveraged Freedom Chair
- 2012, ASME/Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal, awarded to an engineering graduate who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering within ten years following receipt of the baccalaureate degree
- 2011, Wall Street Journal Big Innovations of 2011 (one of seven) for the Leveraged Freedom Chair
- 2010, Tufts University Young Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award
- 2011, Red Dot Design Award Winner for the Leveraged Freedom Chair
- 2010, R&D 100 Editors Choice Award for the Leveraged Freedom Chair, given to the three favorite R&D 100 award winners by the magazine's editors
- 2010, R&D 100 Award for the Leveraged Freedom Chair, given by R&D Magazine for the 100 most technologically significant products of the year
- 2010, MIT School of Engineering Graduate Student Extraordinary Teaching and Mentoring Award, the highest honor given to a graduate student for teaching and mentoring at MIT
- 2010, ASME Innovation Showcase, 1st place for the Leveraged Freedom Chair
- 2010, Gold Award, Spark Awards for design, world changing category for the Leveraged Freedom Chair
Memberships
- 2012 - Present, Pi Tau Sigma
- 2010 - Present, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
- 2009 - Present, American Physical Society
- 2009 - Present, Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America
- 2004 - Present, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- 2004 - Present, Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society
- 2003 - Present, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
Professional Service
- 2015- Present, Associate Editor, Development Engineering, Elsevier
- 2014 - Present, Advisory Board Member, Humanitarian Engineering Program, Oregon State University
- 2013 - Present, Member, ASME Engineering for Global Development Conference Programming Committee
- 2012 - Present, Creator and Co-organizer, Engineering for Global Development Impact Forum, ASME IDETC/CIE Conference
- 2011 - 2013, RESNA SIG-17 "International Appropriate Technology" Chair
- 2011 - Present, Member, ASME Engineering for Global Development Committee
- 2010 - Present, Member, ASME Engineering for Change Advisory Committee
MIT Service
- 2015 – Present, Proposal Review Committee, Tata Center for Technology and Design
- 2015 – Present, Faculty Lead and Organizer, ME Dept. DeFlorez Design Competition
- 2014 – Present, Faculty Supervisor, MIT Formula SAE Team
- 2014 – Present, Lincoln Labs - MIT Dept of Mechanical Engineering Task Force
- 2014 – Present, iHouse Advisory Committee
- 2013 – Present, Program Committee, Tata Center for Technology and Design
- 2013 – Present, Proseminar Speaker Series Organizer, Tata Center for Technology and Design
- 2013 – Present, Sports Technology and Engineering @ MIT (STE@M) Program, Member
- 2012 – Present, Graduate Admissions Committee (Design Area Review Lead)
- 2011 – Present, Core Faculty Member, Tata Center for Engineering and Design
- 2013, MIT@F1 "Innovation in Automotive Technologies", MIT networking and fundraising event held at the 2013 US Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin, TX
- 2012, MIT MISTI, MISTI Global Seed Fund Grant Reviewer
- 2008 - 2010, MIT Hobby Shop Advisory Committee
Teaching
- Design and Manufacturing I (2.007)
- Global Engineering (2.76)
Publications
- Isava, M., Winter V, A.G. "Razor Clam-Inspired Burrowing in Dry Soil." International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics. 2016.
- Nordstrom, K.N., Dorsch, D.S., Losert, W., Winter V, A.G. "A Microstructural View of Burrowing with RoboClam". Physical Review E. (In Press).
- Narang, Y., Venkata N. M. A., Winter V, A.G. "The Effects of Prosthesis Inertial Properties on Prosthetic Knee Moment and Hip Energetics Required to Achieve Able-bodied Kinematics." IEEE Transactions of Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. (In Press).
- Isava, M., Winter V, A.G. "An Experimental Investigation of Digging via Localized Fluidization, Tested With RoboClam: A Robot Inspired by Atlantic Razor Clams." (In Revision).
- Arelekatti, V.N.M., Winter V, A.G. "Design and Preliminary Field Validation of a Fully Passive Prosthetic Knee Mechanism for Users with Transfemoral Amputation in India." (In Revision).
- Narang, Y.S., Arelekatti, V.N.M., Winter V, A.G. "The Effects of the Inertial Properties of Above-Knee Prostheses on Optimal Stiffness, Damping, and Engagement Parameters of Passive Prosthetic Knees." (In Revision)
- Winter V, A.G., Govindarajan, V. "What Engineering a Reverse Innovation Looks Like." Harvard Business Review, November 2015.
- Winter V, A.G., Govindarajan, V. "Engineering Reverse Innovations." Harvard Business Review, July-August 2015.
- Judge, B.M., Hölttä-Otto, K, Winter V, A.G. "Developing World Users as Lead Users: A Case Study in Engineering Reverse Innovation." Journal of Mechanical Design 137.7: 071406. May 2015.
- Wright, N.C., Winter V, A.G. “Justification for Community-Scale Photovoltaic-Powered Electrodialysis Desalination Systems for Inland Rural Villages in India”. Desalination, 2014. 352: p. 82-91, November 2014.
- Winter V, A.G., R.L.H. Deits, D.S. Dorsch, A.H. Slocum, A.E. Hosoi. “Razor Clam to RoboClam: Burrowing Drag Reduction Mechanisms and their Robotic Adaptation,” Bioinspir. Biomim. 9: 1-11. April 2014.
- Winter V, A.G. "Helping the Disabled Get Off-Road and On with Their LIves," DEMAND: ASME Global Development Review. 1 (Fall): 18-23. October 2013.
- Winter V, A.G., Deits, R.L.H., Hosoi, A.E. “Localized Fluidization Burrowing Mechanics of Ensis Directus,” J. Exp. Biol. 215 (12): 2072-2080. January 2012.
- Jung, S., Winter V, A.G., Hosoi, A.E. “Dynamics of Digging in Wet Soil,” Int. J. Nonl. Mech. 46, 602. January 2011.
- Winter V, A.G., Hosoi, A.E. “Identification and Evaluation of the Atlantic Razor Clam (Ensis directus) for Biologically-Inspired Subsea Burrowing Systems,” Integr. Comp. Biol. 51 (1): 151-157. January 2011.
- Winter V, A.G., Smith, A.B. “Assessing MAARDEC: A Comparison with Other Assistive Device Workshop and Disability Organization Models (Innovations Case Discussion: MAARDEC).” Innovations Vol. 3 No. 3: 79-81. Summer 2008.
- Winter V, A.G. “Assessment of Wheelchair Technology in Tanzania.” International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering Vol. 2 No. 1: 66-77. September 2006.
Patents
- Patent #9222405. "Turbocharged Single Cylinder Internal Combustion Engine Using an Air Capacitor", Amos G Winter. Issued December 29, 2015.
- Patent #8496410 B2. "Method and Apparatus for Penetrating Particulate Substrates." Winter V, A.G., Hosoi, A.E., Slocum, A.H. Issued July 30, 2013.
- Application #13/356,585. "Wheelchair with Lever Drivetrain." Winter V, A. G. et al. Filed January 23, 2012. Notice of allowance (accepted for patent).