College of Business Hosts Mit Faculty Member for Sustainable Enterprise Speaker Series Nov. 26

Amy Smith, director of the D-Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MacArthur "Genius Grant" award winner, will speak at Colorado State University on Monday, Nov. 26, as part of the Sustainable Enterprise Speaker Series sponsored by the College of Business.

Her talk on "Design, Dialogue and Duct Tape – Tools for International Development" is inspired from real-world experience using technological innovation to address everyday problems in developing nations. The event will take place from 7-8:30 p.m. in Room A101 of the Clark Building. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required at http://www.biz.colostate.edu/ms/GSSE/RSVP.

Smith recently was granted the MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the MacArthur "Genius Grant," for her work in developing inexpensive technologies to solve problems in developing countries.

She is one of the founders of the Service Learning program at MIT and started the Public Service Design Seminars. She also is one of the co-founders of the IDEAS competition, which encourages teams to develop and implement projects that make a positive change in the world.

In 1988, Smith was awarded the JFK Peace Corps Volunteer of the Year Award for her work in Africa where she represented more than 2,500 volunteers. She later returned to MIT to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, focusing on engineering design for developing countries.

This fall, the College of Business at Colorado State University began offering an 18-month master’s degree in Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise that will teach students to use entrepreneurial, sustainable approaches to solve global challenges in energy, agriculture, health, environmental management and economic development.

For more information on the GSSE program, go to http://www.biz.colostate.edu/ms/GSSE.

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