Amy Banzaert
Associate Teaching Professor in Engineering and Director of Engineering Studies
Mechanical engineer and educator dedicated to integrating engineering within a liberal arts context. As the Founding Director of Engineering Studies at Wellesley College, she has been instrumental in building the college’s engineering identity, creating pathways for students to engage with real-world problems through the lenses of technical design, equity, humanitarian innovation, and sustainability.
At Wellesley, my work focuses on making engineering accessible and impactful for students across all disciplines. I founded We-Lab (Wellesley Engineering Lab), a space where students apply collaborative, humanitarian design approaches to address both local and global challenges. My teaching philosophy emphasizes:
Human-Centered Design: Teaching students to prioritize empathy and cultural context in the engineering process.
Project-Based, Community-Based Learning: courses like Fundamentals of Engineering (ENGR160) and Project Creation for All (ENGR111) apply theory to hands-on prototyping to address real world problems
Multidisciplinary Integration: Bridging the gaps between engineering and technology with the liberal arts, including in the courses ENGR/PEAC 305 Intersections of Technology, Social Justice, and Conflict and ES/PEAC 125H Climate Crisis (& Hope)
I have been honored for pedagogical excellence, receiving both the Pinanski Prize and the Apgar Award for teaching at Wellesley.
My doctoral work at MIT focused on the environmental and health impacts of cooking fuels, specifically investigating charcoal briquettes made from agricultural waste as a sustainable alternative to wood fuel in regions facing severe deforestation.
Education
- B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology