Inspiring STEM Pathways: Tahira Reid

Tahira Reid is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. Growing up in the Bronx, New York, Tahira loved Double-Dutch jump rope, and then developed an interest in math and science. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), she worked to build a Double-Dutch machine that earned a patent. She pursued a graduate degree in engineering and then became a professor at Purdue University, where she is head of the REID (Research in Engineering and Interdisciplinary Design) Lab, which develops new human-machine interactions. She also does pathbreaking work to include minority communities that are frequently left out of technology development.
Inspiring STEM Pathways, a Smithsonian's Lemelson Center project, presents first-hand accounts from interviews with living inventors who work in a variety of fields and organizations. The videos and learning materials are intended to encourage students to pursue STEM fields by seeing role models speaking about their interests and passions, challenges they encountered and how they overcame them, and how they draw on curiosity and resiliency in their daily work.
Visit invention.si.e... for details and educational resources.