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I will use my platform to the best of my ability to advocate for Black engineers on campus...”

Dr. Tahira Reid Smith

Dr. Tahira Reid Smith

Associate Professor

School of Mechanical Engineering

Visiting NASA Scholar

I will use my platform to the best of my ability to advocate for Black engineers on campus and serve as a bridge between national efforts spearheaded by Black In Engineering and the College of Engineering. 

Biography

Tahira Reid Smith is an Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and the director of the Research in Engineering and Interdisciplinary Design (REID) Laboratory. Her research interests include quantifying and integrating human-centered considerations in the design process and human-machine systems. Her research program has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and other sources. Prior to arriving to Purdue in 2012, she completed a postdoctoral position in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Iowa State University. In 2010, she received her PhD from the University of Michigan in Design Science, with Mechanical Engineering and Psychology as her focus areas. Dr. Reid received both her BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2000 and 2004, respectively.