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Amos Winter

Contact Info

room 3-449C

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

77 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

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

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).