Tahira Reid Smith

Growing up in the Bronx as an only child, Tahira Reid Smith dreamed about an automated Double Dutch jump rope machine that would allow her to practice — even when there was no one available to turn the ropes. 

As an undergraduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Reid Smith took the Introduction to Engineering Design class taught by famed educator, entrepreneur, and inventor Burt Swersey, a fellow Bronxite. Under Swersey’s mentorship, Reid Smith revisited the Double Dutch machine design she first created on a poster in the third grade. By graduation, she successfully created a working prototype, and was awarded two patents for her device. In addition to a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from RPI, Reid Smith has a PhD in Design Science from the University of Michigan. 

Reid Smith teaches Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Design at Pennsylvania State University. There, she is also Director of the REID Lab (Research in Engineering and Interdisciplinary Design), where she and her students focus on human-centered design that improves lives. Her story and her automated Double Dutch jump rope machine are part of the Smithsonian’s Change Your Game exhibition.