Lemelson-MIT sustainability prize goes to Hausler
The Lemelson-MIT Program said that its $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability will go to Elizabeth Hausler for her engineering accomplishments in developing models for earthquake-resistant housing in the developing world.
Hausler (shown at right) is the chief executive and founder of Build Change, which seeks to design homes that won't collapse during natural disasters, the Lemelson-MIT Program said in a press release about the Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability.
In a statement, Lemelson-MIT Program executive director Joshua Schuler said: "Dr. Hausler's work proves that the wheel doesn't need to be re-invented. Innovation as a result of smart improvements to existing technologies can be equally effective. Elizabeth is a remarkable example of someone whose work is a catalyst for wide-scale adoption by using a model that is economically and socially sustainable. She realizes that local people will use only what skilled labor and materials are readily available in their communities to build their homes. Leveraging that knowledge, and coupling it with her engineering aptitude and ability to teach, she has transformed the standard donor-driven model of post-earthquake reconstruction."
Jerome H. Lemelson, and his wife, Dorothy, founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. The foundation aims to celebrate the "inventive spirit" by supporting projects that "nurture innovators and unleash invention to advance economic, social and environmentally sustainable development."
The photo that appears with this post was provided by the Lemelson-MIT Program. The photo was by Tim Pelling.
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