The Accidental Humanitarian

New faculty member Amos Winter, SM 05, PhD 11, tackles the crazy hard engineering challenges of the developing world.

Walk into Amos Winters lab on any given day and you might find the assistant professor of mechanical engineering working on a water purification system, a high-efficiency diesel tractor engine, prosthetic feet, or a prosthetic knee that enables users to walk with a natural gait, all of which hes designing to help people in the developing world. But Winter didnt set out to be a do-gooder. It happened by accident, a twist of fatehappier but no less unexpected than a fall from a tree, a motorcycle crash, or a tropical fever, any of which might leave someone in need of the invention for which hes become best known.