Amy Qian ’11, a mechanical engineering major, has been named one of Glamour magazine’s Top 10 College Women of 2010. Her inventions have helped many in Himalayan communities live safer, more productive, and more comfortable lives. As part of the SolSource team, she traveled to Tibet with the support of a Public Service Center fellowship to field test their three-in-one, solar-powered device for cooking, heating, and generating electricity. The device has won the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment and grants from the Clinton Global Initiative University and the Environmental Protection Agency.
This summer, as part of team HeatSource, she again traveled to China but with a new invention—a line of clothing and bedding that can serve as clean and healthy sources of heat. Her team is helping some of the 2.5 billion people worldwide who rely on unclean biomass fuels for heating, many of whom die from indoor air-pollution-related diseases. HeatSource received a Legatum Center Summer 2010 Seed Grant, which funds market research, travel, project scoping, and pilot studies for innovative, sustainable projects in low-income countries.
Qian’s inventions are produced by the student-founded company One Earth Designs, for which she is chief engineer. One Earth helps Himalayan communities adapt to lives altered by climate and socio-economic change. With her knowledge of local materials and techniques, Qian consults project teams on solutions for both rural and urban communities. She also offers her knowledge to locals. Check out video of Qian running an engineering workshop to explain woodworking tools and design principles and thus empower Himalayan people to engineer their own solutions to aid their community.
Qian joins a now-growing list of MIT women to earn the distinction. Last year, Tish Scolnik ’10 made Glamour‘s list.
