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Tahira Reid Smith is an Associate of mechanical engineering at Purdue University who is best known for her game-changing invention, the automated double dutch jump rope machine.

Her Life
Reid grew up in the Bronx, New York, and, as a young girl, her Jamaican-American family urged her to develop her creative spirit. According to her, her extended family fostered a desire to socialize with people “from all walks of life”[1], and she saw how her family members would invent innovative solutions to their everyday problems, “such as redesigning shoes and organising car sharing”[2]. She has mentioned her grandfather, who she views as a “maker”, as one of her main influences in her innovation path. Additionally, she excelled in math and science subjects as a young child, which further encouraged her unique, inventive qualities. “I remember my 8th grade math teacher, Miss Closi: the bell rang on a Friday and she didn't let us go until we got it right. That level of rigor was there, even at an early age.”[3] Reid did her undergraduate bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree in the same field at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute[4]. This is where she began her journey as a successful African-American female innovator.

Her Innovation
For a school assignment, she was asked to illustrate that she would like to have. school she was set the task of drawing something she’d like to have. She thought a pain point in her school recreation experience: “she did not have anyone to turn Double Dutch with her when she came home from school”[5]. To address this problem, she invented machine for turning the ropes automatically in double dutch skipping. While this game-changing idea remained a seemingly simple sketch during her childhood years, years later, she would revisit this invention and rise in popularity with it. During her period as a undergraduate student, Reid took her invention and transformed into more; she made it a “reality at RPI and led to two grants from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (now VentureWell), funded by The Lemelson Foundation”[6]. She obtained her first patent for it in 1999, and her second in 2003[7]. Articles and books were published to recognize her, and she was asked to shared her story on national television.

Impact
Today, she is an inspiration to many young inventors like her. Her invention gained popularity after a book, Double Dutch, was written about her experience. Aside from her position as Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, she also serves as Director of the REID Lab at Purdue (REID stands for Research in Engineering and Interdisciplinary Design). She continues to pursue her passions in “product and conceptual design, decision-making and behavioral psychology, and integrating human judgments into the design process”[8], applying these interests to her research in sustainability and healthcare.